Sen: Business sense

Nov. 13: The West Bengal government is drafting a proposal to set up a “dry port” in the Siliguri-Jalpaiguri area that would help the re-opening of the Nathu-la trade route.

Announcing this in Gangtok today, Bengal’s commerce and industries minister Nirupam Sen, who is on a visit to Sikkim, said the proposal, though in its initial stages, would be put forward to the Centre in the “near future”.

Sen, accompanied by urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya, arrived in the Sikkim capital this morning to hold discussions on Nathu-la with chief minister Pawan Chamling and government officials. The two Bengal ministers are accompanied by commerce and industries secretary Sabyasachi Sen and divisional commissioner of north Bengal Balbir Ram.

The ministers called on Chamling in the evening and will visit the border outpost of Nathu-la tomorrow.

Sen said the reopening of the Silk Route could benefit both Sikkim and West Bengal and the meeting with Chamling was aimed at making a concerted effort in getting the infrastructure facilities ready before trade actually starts.

The ministers will propose a joint action between the two states to build infrastructure. “Since the two states will play a pivotal role in the trade, we wanted to know what the Sikkim chief minister has in his mind and his plan of action. The meeting was intended at sharing views,” said Sen, considered to be one of the main architects of Bengal’s economy.

Urban development minister Bhattacharya, who is also the CPM MLA from Siliguri, told The Telegraph that a lot of aspects had to be taken into consideration because an enormous volume of trade was expected to flow through the route. “A concerted action has to be initiated by the two states which will provide ample scope and opportunities and reap economic benefits for the region,” he said.

Sen said the Centre had to come forward in providing assistance to build the required infrastructure. “For this, the two states have to go together with concrete proposals,” he said.

The two ministers also felt that once the route opened, Calcutta port would be the nearest for Lhasa for both exports and imports and would play an important role. Even ports like Haldia and the upcoming one at Kulpi in South 24-Parganas could play similar roles.

According to Siliguri-Jalpaiguri Development Authority chief executive officer Rajesh Pandey, the likely site for the dry port will be near Sevoke railway station, 15 km from Siliguri. “There is a lot of land available there to set up truck bays and warehouses,” Pandey said.

The location is also close to NH-31, which has been included in the east-west corridor. This, Pandey said would facilitate movement of goods to all corners of the country. The dry port linkage with Calcutta, Haldia and Kulpi, will be through the north-south corridor aligned with NH 34.

Pandey said the capacity of the Matigara truck terminal would be doubled and modern facilities, technical as well as recreational, will be built there. Rest rooms and hotels had been planned as well, the chief executive officer said.

Chamling had also scouted Siliguri and went around looking for land owned by his government in order to set up warehouses. Sources said Sikkim was looking at developing pilgrimage tourism to Kailash and Mansarovar, as the route through the hill-state is the shortest.