Minister of State for Finance (Independent Charge) Chandrima Bhattacharya on Wednesday mentioned about the various policy initiatives for promotion and facilitation of industrial development in the state in her Budget speech 2023-24 at the state Assembly.
The proposed allocation in the Budget has been Rs 1397.14 crore for Industry, Commerce and Enterprises department.
Among the major projects highlighted by Bhattacharya includes the construction of an Industrial and Economic Corridor connecting Tajpur (East Midnapore) with Raghunathpur (Purulia). It would have three branches namely Dankuni-Haldia, Dankuni-Raghunathpur, and Dankuni-Kalyani. It would have multiple economic regions, better connectivity with surrounding industrial zones and complementary infrastructure like logistic parks, townships along with other urban amenities.
This entire zone would lead to the overall economic and social development of surrounding areas and would also lead to faster growth for the industries. The project would generate an employment for about one lakh people.
About 2,483 acre of industrial land of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) at Raghunathpur has been approved for development under the name of Jungal Sundari Karmanagari. About 600 acre of land in the area has been allotted to Shyam Steel and letter of possession is also issued. The proposed investment would be about Rs. 2,000 crore with an employment of about 5,000 persons.
Bhattacharya also mentioned about the Deocha Pachami coal block project at Birbhum that will alone will create 1 lakh jobs with an investment of Rs 30000 crore.
A new logistics and industrial parks is being developed over 69.225 acre at Belur in Howrah. Jangal Sundari Karmanagari industrial township over 4,000 acre is coming up in Purulia. The township along with the industrial area and connected corridors from Dankuni to Amritsar is likely to attract investment of Rs. 72,000 crore and provide lakhs of employment.
The Jagdishpur-Haldia-Bokaro-Dhamra pipeline project covering 10 South Bengal districts of the state and Barauni-Guwahati pipeline project covering 5 North Bengal districts, traversing 835 km in the state with an expected investment of Rs. 4,185 crore, has been undertaken.
The City Gas Distribution (CGD) Project is undertaken utilising the Gas Pipeline of GAIL for distribution of CNG/PNG for domestic, commercial and industrial gas.
Based on exploration exercises in the onshore part of Bengal Basin, Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) has been granted to ONGC by the state government. Test production is going on. The state has already received investment to the tune of Rs. 3,700 crore from ONGC and another Rs. 900 crore of committed investment is on the anvil during the period 2021-24.
Three Coal Bed Methane (CBM) blocks have been allocated to three different operators by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.