The West Bengal government is keen on setting up industrial parks, or MSME units, on the lands of closed central PSUs.
The state Industry Department has asked district magistrates to identify non agricultural lands along the industrial corridor. The proposed corridor will cover seven districts, namely, east and west Burdwan, Purulia, Bankura, West Midnapore, Howrah and Hooghly.
The state government has proposed to set up an industrial park on 166 acres of land of Durgapur Projects Limited. Again it has got 191.06 acres of land of Dhakeshwari Cotton Mills. The land has been procured by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation ( WBIDC) where an industrial park will come up. The state government has 81.04 acres of land at Mangalpur in West Burdwan. It has 541 acres of land of HCL and another 193 acres of land of Mining and Allied Machinery Corporation in Durgapur. Huge land belonging to the closed central PSUs like Hindusthan cables, Cycle Corporation of India and Burn Standard are lying unutilised.
The state government has already set up a land bank and requested the industrialists to buy land from the bank. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said over and again that the state government would provide all assistance to the industrialists. She told the industrialists that the environment in West Bengal was congenial for investment.
Dr. Shashi Panja, state Industry minister said the main thrust area was now the MSME units . West Bengal was doing very well in MSME and start ups, she said. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had recently announced that the state government would give Rs 2 lakhs as loan to the youths to start their own business.