Going all out to woo investors, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said that not a single industrialist will face any harassment from her government if he decides to invest in Bengal. She made it clear that an investor can expect more than a level-playing field in the state. While on Friday she had highlighted the availability of cheap labour, surplus power and land bank et al to lure the investors, on Saturday she offered them a tax-friendly regime. “We don’t want to harass the industrialists. Our appeal is to all governments not to harass industrialists. Let them be in peace so that their flags fly high. I cannot go for raids every day. Sometimes I have the power, but I cannot bulldoze you. We have to see that businessmen also have flexible space. We have to provide them relaxed environment. If they (industrialists) always have to think that oh God tax people are coming, then they will be afraid,” she added. Ms Banerjee was delivering her concluding speech at the second and last day of the Bengal Global Business Summit.
She clarified that “blackmoney issue” was different and it had no connection with her stand. “Blackmoney issue is different and this is different. I would be honoured if half of the blackmoney can be returned to the country and used for development purpose,” she said. Possibly in a bid to shed her Singur agitation baggage, Ms Banerjee argued that there should not be any political vendetta. “Let us give a message. My government will not harass any single industrialist. This is not our nature. And we have to help each other,” she said. Listing the positives of her government, the CM said that 5,000 acres land bank was available in the state and an additional 1 lakh acres could be procured for industries. Before concluding her speech, she promised investors a free hand to do business in Bengal.
“I am not a VIP. But a less important person, LIP. We need to be humble and submissive. Our target is to make West Bengal the number one investment destination in India,” she added.
Meanwhile, the chief minister made it clear that there was no communal trouble in the state. Denying that the mob violence that erupted in Malda’s Kaliachawk recently was a communal incident, she said it was a clash between the local people and the BSF. “That’s different. State was not involved. It was not a communal programme. We managed the situation,” she added.
