Kolkata, July 9 -- The West Bengal government has decided to revive the long-defunct Burdwan Mishti Hub, with a preliminary plan to establish a food-processing unit to generate employment and boost commercial activity.
The state is also exploring the possibility of setting up a rice processing unit or a potato hub at the site. Minister of State for Industries Moumita Biswas Mishra said the proposals are under active consideration, and efforts are being made to implement them at the earliest.
As part of the industry push strategy, the government is planning industrial projects on nearly 600 acres of land at the proposed NTPC thermal power plant site in Katwa, where the power project never materialised.
The latest proposal concerns the Burdwan Mishti Hub, a project launched by former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as one of her flagship initiatives. The facility was inaugurated in April 2017 in Bamchandipur near Burdwan to promote Bengal's iconic sweets, including Sitabhog, Mihidana, Katwa's Pantua, and Langcha.
However, the project struggled to gather pace after its launch. The two-storey complex, housing around 30 commercial units, gradually witnessed the closure of nearly all sweet shops, triggering resentment among traders.
The previous government had later attempted to revive the hub by introducing modern packaging and processing facilities for traditional sweets with technical assistance from IIT Kharagpur. However, those efforts failed to materialise, and the complex has remained abandoned for nearly five years.
Speaking on the proposal, Mishra said the government's priority is to attract industries and generate employment.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.