KOLKATA: State Commerce and Industry minister Shashi Panja on Tuesday stressed the need for exploiting the locational advantage of Bengal considering its connectivity to North East and neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh to the utmost.
Addressing the 2nd East India Summit 2022, organised by CII, Panja said: "Our government under the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has developed a huge connectivity of roads, highways to connect with the waterways and our thrust on further strengthening of the same is always on. We are looking at a 30 million consumer base, so connectivity and international / bilateral linkages are of utmost importance,"Panja said. She added that Bengal has two international airports in the form of Kolkata and Bagdogra and two ports in Syama Prasad Mookerjee port and Haldia port.
The deep sea port, which the state government is setting up at Tajpur, will provide a big boost to trade and commerce."
She reiterated that political stability and fiscal responsibility, which the industrialists look for before investment is very much there in Bengal.
She maintained that sometimes there have been instances of conflict of interests in the port sector but the state wants all ports to work together for seamless connectivity. Debashis Dutta , Chairman of CII (Eastern Region) Logistics, Warehousing & MMT subcommittee urged Panja to take measures for rolling out the Bengal Logistics Policy at an earliest. He said that CII has come up with a draft policy and has already handed it over to state Industry secretary Vandana Yadav. He added that he will soon hand over the draft policy to Panja so that she can personally intervene for its quick introduction .
Speaking at the session on Strengthening the Multimodal Transportation Infrastructure of the East, chairman of Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Vinit Kumar said that in a recent meeting with Inland Waterways Authority of India , a decision has been taken to rope in an agency which will be responsible for development and maintenance of waterways in north east as well as Gangetic plain.