Rs 300 cr investment in North Bengal by entrepreneurs in MSME Sector

Darjeeling: Entrepreneurs will be investing Rs 300 crore this year in the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises in North Bengal. Since 2011, investments to the tune of Rs 1,700 crore have already been made in this sector in North Bengal along with providing employment to as many as 2,500 people.

During the MSME Conclave in Kolkata in August this year, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had proposed a similar conclave for North Bengal where problems of start-ups and entrepreneurs would be addressed. In line with her direction, "Siliguri Synergy" was held in Siliguri on Tuesday.

Alapan Bandyopadhyay, Additional Chief Secretary, MSME Department, while inaugurating the "Synergy" stated that the department needs to ensure that entrepreneurs do not have to rush to Kolkata to resolve problems. "All necessary help will be made available to them here itself," he assured.

The conclave organised by the MSME department and the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) witnessed the participation of entrepreneurs from the North Bengal districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar.

Dipankar Chakroborty, Joint Director, MSME, posted at Uttarkanya, has been deputed to look into the problems faced by the entrepreneurs. CII will also assist him in this task.

The Additional Chief Secretary, MSME, asked the District Magistrates to fix up the rates of land available in their districts for the start-ups and other industries and declare the same. "The industrialists and entrepreneurs should not face any problems to change the classification of land," stated Bandyopadhyay.

He further assured the entrepreneurs present there of all help and cooperation from the state government. "We will also develop infrastructure that will aid industrialisation," he added.

Government officials from different departments were also present to answer queries and assist the start-ups. Stalls were put up by these departments. Bandyopadhyay along with other officials answered questions put forward. Issues like difficulty in acquiring fire licence, exorbitant power bills and problems faced in getting land to set up new industries were raised at the Synergy.

The small tea growers of the Darjeeling Hills complained of non-cooperation by the Tea Board relating to various issues and problems faced by the growers including Geographical Indication (GI) for the small tea cultivations. They further appealed for intervention by the MSME department.

Bandyopadhyay asked them to hand in a detailed report regarding the problems and assured of all possible help from the department.