Kolkata:Trinamool Congress-led government in West Bengal often alleged that the Narendra Modi-led Central government is selling off major public sector units including banking, insurance and steel, but now the same charges have returned to the doorstep of the TMC. The West Bengal government has prepared a detailed plan for selling off the land of the state PSU Durgapur Projects Limited (DPL) to clear debts.
While the BJP calls the Mamata Banerjee-led state government's move as dichotomy, the opposition Left and Congress say both Mamata Banerjee and Narendra Modi are just two sides of the same coin. During the ongoing budget session of the West Bengal Assembly, the ruling party including the Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee have been vocal against the disinvestment policies of the Centre. At the same time, the state government has silently started the process of selling off around 130 acres of land owned by state-owned DPL.
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According to the state government, the land sale is necessary to pay off the days of the organization which had been financially ailing for quite some time, but the opposition has alleged that the state government has already prepared the blueprint in this regard and finalized the documents necessary to go ahead with the process. They also allege that a prolonged meeting on this count took place at the state secretariat of Nabanna a couple of days back, which was attended by the state power minister Aroop Biswas, state law minister Malay Ghatak and state chief secretary HK Dwivedi.
The Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal assembly, Aroop Biswas had been vocal on this issue. Responding to media queries at the Assembly premises he said that the state government is doing the same thing for which they had been critical of the Central government. "They are trying to sell DPL’s land to a private promoter. They are disinvesting state government stake in Haldia Petrochemicals Limited. Earlier, the state government sold off Metro Diary to a private entity. And this same state government and the ruling party are accusing the Centre of its disinvestment policies. This is a complete dichotomy,” said Aroop Biswas.
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The state secretary of CPI(M)’s trade union wing, CITU, Anadi Sahoo said the fact is that the state government is selling off the 130 acres of land owned by DPL to private real estate promoters for housing projects. “We on behalf of CITU have already opposed this move. There is no difference between the policies of the Central and state government and both are two sides of the same coin. The process of selling DPL’s land is the greatest example in this regard. The state government wants to slowly cripple DPL financially and so the process has begun by handing over of the land to land mafias,” Sahoo said.
When ETV Bharat contacted the state power minister Aroop Biswas in this regard, he declined to speak on this issue. However, another senior minister, on a strict condition of anonymity, said that the opposition allegations are true. "The state government is trying all methods to make the state PSUs profitable. The state government’s announced stand is against disinvestment. Our policy is no retrenchment. So it is unfair to compare us with the representatives of the Central government,” he said.
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