Karan Adani, son of industrialist Gautam Adani, met Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday, days before the bid closes for Tajpur port.
Adani, who is the CEO of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Ltd (APSEZ), went to meet the CM at Nabanna along with a few officials of the company.
This is the second instance when the family of the arguably richest person in Asia is coming to Calcutta in two months to hold a meeting with the state leadership. On December 2, Gautam Adani had also met the chief minister.
While there was no official word on what transpired on Thursday, the meeting gained in significance as it took place less than a week before the final bids were called for development of Tajpur port.
State entity West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation has floated a tender to award the contract of building the port and an industrial zone along with it. Sources said the Adani scion also met the top bosses of WBIDC.
APSEZ operates multiple such facilities in India and it is widely believed to be interested in a strategic presence in Bengal, which Tajpur may offer.
However, Karan Adani’s visit to the city was not restricted to the corridors of power at the state secretariat.
Even before the bids were closed for Tajpur, APSEZ already established a presence in Bengal by signing an agreement with Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Calcutta (formerly Calcutta Port Trust).
The letter of award for mechanisation and upgrada¬tion of berth no 2 at Haldia was given to the company at a ceremony organised by the port. To be carried out in PPP mode at an investment of Rs 298 crore, the berth will be able to handle 3.7 million tonne cargo annually.
The Telegraph had reported on October 4 that APSEZ emerged as the frontrunner to win the tender for the berth, paving the way for India’s largest private sector port operator to set foot in Bengal.
In the ceremony on Thursday, SMP, Calcutta chairman Vinit Kumar handed over the LoA to Karan Adani in the presence of Adani port officials, which included Subrat Tripathy, CEO, Ports, APSEZ and Sudip Dasgupta COO, Dhamra Port. A. K Mehara, deputy chairman (Haldia) was also present.