Mamata Banerjee: Battle on

Calcutta, Oct. 8: The next round of confrontation between the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress could well be staged on land that will be required for special economic zones to be set up by the Indonesian Salim Group and a number of others.

Fifteen proposals to set up SEZs have been sent to the Centre, of which eight received “in principle” approval last week, including two of the Salim Group. These SEZs will require 11,529 hectares in four districts and final approval from Delhi depends on sewing up the land.

Trinamul has already threatened to oppose acquisition of farmland for SEZs. “We are opposed to acquisition of agricultural land for industry, be it SEZ or anything else. The Congress also holds the same view,” Trinamul Congress MP Mukul Roy said.

Even the CPM is not entirely free of doubts over SEZs. State secretary Biman Bose parried a question about land acquisition for SEZs.

“The Centre has given first the phase of clearance for SEZ proposals. There are so many things to be examined before the final clearance,” he said.

He, however, insisted that Bengal should not be compared with any other state since the government here offers a generous compensation and rehabilitation package. “Our party wants the Centre to follow the Bengal model on land-use norms in SEZs,” he said.

Under the Bengal model, 50 per cent of the land has to be used for manufacturing units, 25 per cent for infrastructure and the rest for social infrastructure and commercial exploitation, euphemism for real estate development.

The Citu lobby led by M.K. Pandhe and Chittabrata Mazumdar are not happy with the Bengal model, refusing to accept any real estate development in SEZs.

IT conflict

Another point of conflict with this group has reared its head even in connection with tomorrow’s Mamata-called bandh. The state government has made arrangements to guarantee uninterrupted operation of IT and IT-enabled services companies in Sector V, Salt Lake.

Curiously, however, this time — unlike during the last bandh — these companies have not been issued car stickers declaring them as public utility services. Some observers see in this the shadow of differences between chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and the Citu lobby.

The chief minister wants IT to be exempt from strikes, Citu opposes him. And a strike called by trade unions, spearheaded by Citu, is coming up on December 14, when there could be a showdown between the two sides on this issue unless the CPM can sort it out before then.

“We have not provided car stickers. The chief minister himself is taking care of the security arrangement in Sector V,” IT minister Debesh Das said.

Trinamul MP Mukul Roy defended the decision to include IT in the bandh, citing Citu’s example. “We have exempted essential services, but IT cannot be equated with these. CPM can’t ask for it after Citu has declared its intention to include IT in the December 14 strike,” Roy said.