Kolkata: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said industrial development in West Bengal need to be stepped up to keep pace with the rest of the country. This is being seen as a reference to the controversy over the Singur project.
The Prime Minister was speaking at Burnpur in West Bengal where he laid the foundation stone for the modernisation and capacity expansion of the IISCO Steel Plant. Previously, West Bengal had played a leading role in India's industrial development, Singh said, adding that in the last quarter century, it has slipped from its position.
The Prime Minister said it was time for a new era of industrial development in West Bengal. Dr Singh said the state needs modern industries and the jobs that come with them.
While Dr Singh did not directly refer to the ongoing protest by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee over farmland being acquired for the Tata Motors' small car project in Singur, he dropped enough hints on the issue.
"West Bengal must join the march of progress and benefit from the rapid economic growth in the country," Dr Singh said, adding that the state needs a process of industrialisation that is employment-intensive and welfare-enhancing as well as humane and just. "Every section of society," he said, "should benefit from industrialisation."
Banerjee, who has been on fast for 21 days against the Tata Motors' project, had on Saturday sought the Prime Minister's intervention in the matter as it was linked to the debate on acquisition of agricultural land across the country.
"It was here at Kulti that the first modern iron-making unit in India was started more than a century ago. It was here in Bengal that the industrialisation of India began," the Prime Minister said.
Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, Union Steel Minister Ramvilas Paswan and Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunshi were also present on the occasion.
Bhattacharjee said his government was for a turnaround in the state's economy. "We have achieved it in agriculture and are trying it in industry and there is no going back."
Along with the revival of old industries, the state government would like to have modern industries, both manufacturing and knowledge-based, he said.
(With agency inputs)
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