A week into her job, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday asked non-resident Indians to invest in West Bengal saying she was trying her best to snap the nexus between the party and the administration to assure good governance.
Participating in a videoconference hosted by a regional channel, she said an NRI Cell was being set up under the State Finance Department and NRIs could stay in touch with that cell which would streamline the entire process. Besides Finance Minister Amit Mitra (who is a former Secretary-General of top industry body FICCI), she would herself monitor the entire process.
Ms. Banerjee said tourism was a sector which held huge potential in the State which had everything to offer from snow-capped peaks to sea-beaches. Food-processing, information technology, infrastructure, health and education were the other sectors where investment was welcome.
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Her statements came on a day when Purnendu Chatterjee, who had co-promoted the State's showpiece industry, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd. during the previous government's rule, saw new hopes and a fresh beginning to his efforts to settle with the new government a wrangle over ownership of the HPL which ended in a protracted legal battle. After a meeting with Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee, he said he was ready with further investments once the HPL stabilised.