Partha promises small investors’ zone in Siliguri and Jalpaiguri

Siliguri, April 9.TT: Partha Chatterjee has asked local minister Gautam Deb to scout for government land in Siliguri and Jalpaiguri to be leased out to investors who cannot afford to buy plots and develop infrastructure on their own.

Industries minister Chatterjee, who was in Siliguri on the instructions of Mamata Banerjee, said the aim was to bring micro, small and medium scale investors to one zone with basic facilities like roads, sewerage and electricity.

Chatterjee has asked trade bodies in north Bengal to send him an approach paper, detailing the number of interested entrepreneurs, type of industries, their land requirement and the employment that the units are expected to generate.

“They said quite a number of entrepreneurs were willing to invest and set up micro, medium and small-scale industries,” said Chatterjee. “We will set up an industrial hub on the outskirts of Siliguri where all such units will be provided with land on lease. The state government will create infrastructure to facilitate their business. My cabinet colleague (north Bengal development minister) Gautam Deb has been asked to identify land.”

Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts have two saturated industrial hubs — at Sevoke Road and Dabgram — with more than 100 small investors. Such is the demand for land in the region that when two plots fell vacant in Dabgram in 2009, there were 40 applicants for it, an industry source said.“We can firmly say that right now, at least 50 people are ready to set up small-scale units in and around Siliguri and need plots ranging from 10 cottah to 1.5 bigha,” the source said.

The small investors are usually those manufacturing iron and steel furniture, plastic and steel products, food items and automobile accessories. “We have asked for a detailed approach paper. Once we have the details, we can search for land and finalise the location. It is certain that the hub will be established but the location might vary, depending on land needed,” he said. Sources said the hub is likely to come up along NH31D, which links Siliguri to Jalpaiguri.

The minister also iterated that the Mamata government was keen to set up a medicinal hub in the hills. In February, Chatterjee had said the focus would be on Kalimpong subdivision. His department will open five zonal offices across the state to “facilitate industrialisation. One of these would be in Siliguri”. The others will be in Haldia, Burdwan, Howrah and Hooghly.

Chatterjee also said the state was planning to run its five tea gardens — two in the Dooars and three in Darjeeling — through a joint venture with a private company. The company has not yet been selected.

The Jalpaiguri Dabgram Industries Owners’ Welfare Association welcomed the announcement on the new industrial hub. “It is not possible and viable for small investors to buy land, create infrastructure and then start production. Many entrepreneurs want to open new units but cannot do it as the existing industrial estate at Dabgram is saturated,” said Mohan Debnath, who represented the Dabgram association at the meeting with Chatterjee.

The CII, North Bengal Industries’ Association and Eastern Himalaya Travel and Tour Operators’ Association, whose representatives were present at the meeting, drew the attention of the ministers on bad roads and strikes.

Chatterjee, who reached Siliguri yesterday, was sent by the chief minister to talk to an anti-hills forum after back-to-back strikes stretching to 96 hours threatened to shut down the region. The plains outfit opposed to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has scaled down its two-day shutdown to a 24-hour strike tomorrow. The Morcha, which has called a two-day strike from April 18, has not announced any withdrawal yet.