Union Budget: TMC stresses reopening of CPSEs in Durgapur

Five days after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget, the Trinamul Congress (TMC) has officially reacted to the announcement of a new industrial corridor in Durgapur along with improved road connectivity.

Narendra Nath Chakraborty, MLA from Pandaveswar and president of the West Burdwan district Trinamul Congress, said in Durgapur today that merely announcing an industrial corridor would not generate new employment opportunities for the youth. He questioned the absence of any announcement regarding the reopening of closed Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) in Durgapur, particularly Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation Limited (HFCL) and MAMC Industries.

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“If the Centre is genuinely interested in the redevelopment of Durgapur, it must undertake expansion projects and reopen closed CPSEs such as HFCL, Bharat Ophthalmic Glass Limited (BOGL) and MAMC Limited. Without reopening these giant factories, new employment cannot be generated,” he said.

Mr Chakraborty added that the TMC government has repeatedly requested the Centre to reopen these closed factories or alternatively hand them back to the state government so that new industries can be set up on the vast unused factory and township land.

He further alleged that Surendrajit Singh Ahluwalia, who represented the Burdwan–Durgapur Lok Sabha constituency for five years, did nothing to revive the closed CPSEs. In contrast, TMC MP Kirti Jha Azad had raised the issue several times on the floor of Parliament, demanding the reopening of HFCL in Durgapur.

Incidentally, the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) has conducted a survey through the district magistrate of West Burdwan to assess the quantum of land available from closed CPSEs lying abandoned in the Asansol Sadar and Durgapur subdivisions of the district.

Speaking to The Statesman, state law, judiciary and labour minister Moloy Ghatak said the West Bengal government has sent several letters to the Centre seeking transfer of these vast land parcels so that private investors can be invited to set up industries. “However, nothing has happened so far. Our Chief Minister also took an initiative to upgrade Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport at Andal into an international airport. The former Chief Secretary had written several times to the civil aviation ministry, but there has been no response,” Mr Ghatak said.

Accordingly, a status report was prepared last year on around 2,100 acres of land belonging to seven closed CPSEs ~ Hindustan Cables Limited (HCL), Rupnarayanpur; Cycle Corporation of India, Sen Raleigh; Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation Limited (HFCL), Durgapur; MAMC (Mining and Allied Machinery Corporation), Durgapur; Bharat Ophthalmic Glass Limited (BOGL); Kesoram Rayon Industries, Kulti; and Hindustan Pilkington Glass Factory, Asansol ~ together covering a total area of 2,095.42 acres. The report has been handed over to the WBIDC.

Meanwhile, the WBIDC has already initiated steps to develop an industrial park on 193 acres of land belonging to the closed Dhakeswari Cotton Mill in Burnpur. Once one of the most prominent cotton mills in Asia, the mill was shut down long ago and remained idle for years. In 2022, the Mamata Banerjee government approved the takeover of this land parcel in Burnpur, West Burdwan district, for the development of an industrial park.