Both ‘agri and industry will thrive’: CM vows job-led growth for Singur

Kolkata: Vowing that both agriculture and industry would thrive in Singur, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday stressed her government’s focus on employment while inaugurating a series of development projects.

Addressing a public distribution programme in Singur, Hooghly district, Banerjee said her push for industry was not at the cost of agriculture. “Both agriculture and industry will thrive in Singur. I do not believe in ‘jumlas’; we deliver on our promises,” she said.

Reiterating her government’s commitment to job creation, Banerjee said an agro-industrial park spread over eight acres was being set up at a sanctioned cost of Rs 9.2 crore.

“Amazon and Flipkart are setting up large warehousing facilities, which we have already cleared,” she added.

“We don’t talk; we work. They (BJP) stopped the 100-day work. We are continuing it in West Bengal with the state government’s money,” Banerjee said, also referring to the Mahatmashree Kamrashree project. Banerjee’s Singur visit came 10 days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the area. She remarked that the Prime Minister’s speech did not spell out any concrete industry-related projects.

Calling Singur her “favourite place,” Banerjee recalled her 26-day hunger strike against land acquisition between 2006 and 2008. Countering Modi’s “jungle raj” remark made during his January 18 visit, she said the BJP-led Centre had done nothing for Singur and had withheld thousands of crores in dues to the state.

Banerjee inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for 1,694 projects worth Rs 33,551 crore. She also accused the BJP of making “fake claims” and alleged that while Rs 10,000 had been transferred to women in Bihar ahead of Assembly elections, bulldozers were sent after the polls. Claiming credit for the Tarakeswar–Bishnupur railway line, she said, “They only cut the ribbon.”

Meanwhile, she also attacked the BJP-led Centre over what she termed the “unplanned” implementation of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). Assuring residents there was no reason to panic, Banerjee said her government would not allow anyone to be sent to detention camps. “Don’t worry. This is Bengal. Don’t take any drastic steps,” she said, alleging that the BJP-led Union government, through the Election Commission, was deleting the names of legitimate voters in the name of SIR.

Banerjee also accused Modi of misleading people over granting classical language status to Bengali, claiming the Centre acted under pressure from the state.

“I sent five sacks of books to Delhi. We demanded classical status. I even formed a research team,” she said.