Chambers unite on Singur

Calcutta, Dec. 7: In a rare show of solidarity, all eight business chambers in the city have expressed concern over the politicisation of the industrial process — an oblique reference to the Singur protests.

The industry bodies issued a joint statement urging people to raise their voice against any attempt to destabilise industrial resurgence.

The statement did not mention the Tata project but it spoke of the impetus the automobile industry could provide to the state economy.

D.P. Nag, the secretary of the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a chamber veteran, could not recall if such a joint appeal was ever made before. “We have gone together to the government but never to the public,” he said.

Besides the CII and the Indian Chamber of Commerce, six others — the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Bharat Chamber of Commerce, the Merchants Chamber of Commerce, the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce and the Oriental Chamber of Commerce — joined the initiative.

The move originated from anxiety that the industrial revival could suffer. “Bengal suffered from bad image for long. It has been changing slowly of late. If this project does not take off, Bengal’s image will take a severe beating,” Nag said.