Kolkata, Sept. 11 -- West Bengal is gearing up for major investments, with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) set to establish a test range at Junput in East Midnapore, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Friday.
Adhikari said the DRDO had earlier approached the Trinamool Congress government for clearance to implement the project in the coastal belt, but alleged that the previous government delayed its approval.
"We cleared the deck for the project, and soon they will start it at Junput," he said.
Adhikari said the Centre had sent the necessary papers to the state, but the TMC government did not approve the project as Nabanna failed to respond, resulting in the delay.
He said the present government had now cleared the way for the project and that work on the DRDO test range would begin soon.
Sources said the DRDO plans to set up a weapon testing centre at Junput, around 177 km from Kolkata and about 70 km from Chandipur in Balasore, Odisha, where the defence research organisation already operates a testing facility.
Now the DRDO plans to ease the testing workload at the existing integrated test range at Chandipur's Wheeler Island, now rechristened as Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island and set up a new facility at Junput.
Adhikari said Bengal was set to witness a major investment boom, with the state Cabinet recently clearing land for 33 industries. He said the plots would be formally handed over to the investors at a meeting ahead of Durga Puja. "We will be handing over the plots formally to investors before Durga Puja for setting up industries in West Bengal," Adhikari said on Friday after inaugurating the world's largest fashion wardrobe at Salt Lake.
However, the chief minister stressed that the allotted land must be utilised for the intended purpose.
The fashion retail chain will also boost employment, with its network set to expand from 110 outlets now to 250 within the next 18 months, Adhikari said.
He said that the state is going to witness a major investment boom, as on October 14 he would be inaugurating a plant of Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd for which there is an investment to the tune of Rs 6000 crore. He said: "Purnendu Chatterjee had invited me, and I am going to be present at the programme."
The CM said that he attended the private programme on Friday to show that the days of syndicate raj and cut money are over and there is an investment-friendly environment so investors can feel safe to invest here.
He said: "We are seeking investments from those companies with clean images and which have good credibility and have no previous record of bank fraud or have not faced ED action." Adhikari also spoke about a Rs 700-crore project at Gangoni and said a robotic firefighting system, capable of operating in locations inaccessible to fire tenders, was being developed in the state.
He said the Rs 700-crore Amul dairy project at Sankrail Food Park in Howrah had recently commenced, with the company also looking for plots to set up ice-cream factories.
The Sankrail plant is planned to produce curd, mishti doi, yoghurt, lassi and buttermilk, besides processing milk on a large scale. He also mentioned that a new data centre spanning 7,38,000 square feet was opened last month.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.