Mamata to reclaim Nayachar land from Prasoon, plans green tribute to Nandigram martyrs

Mukherjee is the owner of the New Kolkata International Development (NKID) with 51 per cent share in the Nayachar project, while the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) has 49 per cent.

Time has proved that Mukherjee has not been interested in completing any project and his only interest is to sell or lease out land of the projects like a broker.

It may be mentioned that in order to satisfy Mukherjee, who was in good books of erstwhile Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the state government had quickly issued a notice to acquire land in Nandigram. The then secretary of industry department Sabyasachi Sen, Industry Minister and CPIM MLA from Haldia Nirupam Sen had shown unusual alacrity in issuance of the notification. When the local people resisted, the police did not try to disperse, instead opened fire, killing many on the spot.

After 8 years, it has come to light that the steps were taken just to satisfy Mukherjee, who wanted to grab Nandigram as soon as possible.

It may be recalled that the Universal Crescent Private Limited –promoted by Mukherjee and Beni Santoso, a controversial businessman from Indonesia – had proposed to set up a 1320 MW power plant expandable to 1980 MW at an investment of Rs 12,000 crore. The plant, which was to be based on coal imported from Indonesia and Australia, was to come up at Nayachar.

A study of the documents reveal that the Left government did not have an idea of the impact of the thermal plant and had simply become a tool in Mukherjee’s hands.

In December 1987, Benoy Chowdhury, the then Land and Land Reforms Minister, had ordered that the island be handed over to the state fisheries department. The order was implemented in March 1988 and Benfish, the official agency of the fisheries department, took possession over the island and renamed it as Meendwip. 

Though the fisheries department said it was an uninhabited island, over 2,500 people were found to be living there. In 2007, the WBIDC wanted to acquire the island and the fisheries department demanding Rs 220 million from the department.

Interestingly, it has not been yet established whether the island was available after 1985, admitted the then Industry Minister Nirupam Sen. 

Neither the state government nor the WBIDC had engaged any agency to conduct geo-technical survey. They went ahead and allotted the land to Mukherjee, though no specific study on the site was carried out.

On February 15, 2007, the state government gave 54 sq km land to PCR Chemicals Private Limited for conducting a feasibility study to set up a chemical hub. PCR Chemicals, was a 90:10 joint venture between NKID and WBIDC.

The effort of the Left government indicates that in the name of setting up industries funded by a foreign company, the actual motive was to help a person to grab land. After 2011, Mukherjee tried to establish contact with the Trinamool Congress government to set up an Eco Industry Park.