Bengal BJP to oppose state’s ambitious coal block development project

An ambitious coal block project in Deucha Pachami, in Birbhum district of West Bengal, that also found a mention in the state budget statement will be opposed, Suvendu Adhikari, BJP leader and Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly has said.

The leader added that a major port development project that the Mamata-government intends to execute will never happen as it lacks feasibility due to unavailability of adequate land.

The Deucha Pachami coal block development has faced resistance from a section of activists, Left-affiliated platforms. The state government has already announced compensation and rehabilitation for the affected families. The Mamata-government has, ever since coming to power, maintained that it will not acquire land forcefully in the state.

The budget statement read and placed by Chandrima Bhattacharya, Minister of State (independent charge), finance, mentions that development of the block - one of the largest in the world - “will provide energy to the rapid industrialisation of the state besides bringing in huge employment opportunities in the mining sector per-se as well as in allied and ancillary establishments”.

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Suvendu has claimed that the BJP will stand by the tribals and forest-dwellers.

“No one, Mamata Banerjee or anyone else, has the power to violate the Forest Rights Act, 2006. The legislation gives the dwellers their land rights. If attempts are made to ignore the legislation, then the BJP will stand shoulder to shoulder with the tribal community and fight. We will not let Mamata Banerjee do this,” he said.

The state government has also proposed development of a port at Tajpur in south Bengal. The budget statement says that the initiative is “for development of alternative sea ports and integration of port-rail-road infrastructure for creation of sustainable logistics infrastructure in the state”.

The state has already identified over 1,000 acres of land for the project. “It will harness huge logistics potential, attract further investment in allied infrastructure and industrial development and provide employment opportunities to a large number of our youth,” the statement adds.

Suvendu has claimed that there’s no land available for the project and the project will never see the light of the day. Regarding the already existing Haldia port, he said that 5,000 acres of land had been acquired in the (distant) past.

He claimed that around 5,000 acres of land will be needed for the proposed project for establishing warehouses, ancillary facilities, and freight corridors comprising railways and roads. He challenged the government saying that let the government purchase a few thousand acres of land first, and then talk of the project.

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