Kolkata, Sept. 14 -- State BJP President and Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya strongly criticised the previous Mamata Banerjee government accusing it of intentionally stalling the national defence project due to "political vendetta".
Addressing the media on Monday Bhattacharya claimed that the previous government had weaponized local fears by actively spreading misinformation about potential health hazards and radiation risks to block the facility.
He noted that he had personally pushed for the resolution of this project in the Rajya Sabha and held extensive discussions with Union Defence minister Rajnath Singh.
The West Bengal government has officially cleared the administrative deadlock for the Defence Research and Development Organisation's (DRDO) new missile and weapons testing range at Junput in East Midnapore. Bhattacharya also said that he took up the issue in Rajya Sabha and had a discussion with the Defence Minister. The project will be implemented soon.
The proposed DRDO centre in Junput will be set up as a substitute to Odisha's Chandipur centre. The place will be around 40-45 kms from the beach town of Digha in East Midnapore. The new testing facility is set to become India's third major testing hub (alongside Odisha and Andhra Pradesh), significantly easing operational congestion at the Chandipur site.
Earlier, the work was halted due to heavy local agitation and pushback from local fishermen's associations and Trinamool Congress-backed trade unions. With the administrative block cleared, the land allocation has been formalised.
Speaking on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, Bhattacharya said West Bengal is going to see a boom in the industry sector.
A semi-conductor hub will be set up in the state in collaboration with Russia.
"Nothing happens overnight. It will take some time. The syndicate system which was there in the state has been completely dismantled. In one year, the people of Bengal will see the change that takes place in the industry sector," Bhattacharya said.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.