Companies not moving out of Kolkata: CM

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee asserted on Friday that the era of companies moving out of the state was history. In fact, it had been so far more than two decades now.
But the state''s shoddy image, nevertheless, was a cross that would have to be borne for some more time till further improvements could be brought about on the infrastructure and labour fronts, he pointed out.
“The issue of companies leaving Kolkata is a thing of the past. No company has left Kolkata in these 25 years,� Bhattacharjee told a stunned audience at an interaction with members of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce.
He was responding to a question on the prevailing industrial climate here.
It may be noted that shoe major Bata became the latest corporate bigwig to scale down its operations in Kolkata last year. Over the last few years, liquor giant Shaw Wallace has moved its head office to Mumbai and paint major ICI has moved bag and baggage to Gurgaon. Several others now only have their registered offices in Kolkata manned by skeletal staff, with their top executives posted elsewhere.
“As far as labour is concerned, things are not as bad as it was in the early years. The United Front government, from 1967-69, committed serious mistakes,� Bhattacharjee said, pointing out that the patronage that unions received in the past for gheraos (“which is our contribution to the Oxford dictionary�) was something that should not have been given.
He said his government would not tolerate unlawful agitations and was making this point clear to the unions, including the dominant Citu union. Workers who had resorted to illegal means at Bata and at a Coca-Cola bottling plant had also been arrested, he pointed out to signal the government’s seriousness to improve work culture.
Bhattacharjee said tea garden workers, in particular, had been told specifically that they would have to improve productivity at all costs. But “7-8� mills in the jute sector continued to be riddled with problems. The dilemma in the jute industry was that many mills now had “promoters� and not industrialists running the show. The result was that some managers in jute mills carried revolvers and the workers lathis.
Bhattacharjee said he would travel to the United States if there were realistic chances of attracting investments. “Goodwill missions won''t help. I will not go there for merriment,� he said, pointing out that his visits to Italy and Japan only happened after months of preparation. Alfred Ford had been requested by state finance minister Asim Dasgupta to influence the Ford Motor Company to set up a facility here, he added.
Bhattacharjee said Indonesian businessman Beni Santoso had appointed McKinsey to evaluate the possibility of setting up a two-wheeler facility in West Bengal. Even Ratan Tata could mull an automobile venture here after the problems with HPL were sorted out, he added.
Bhattacharjee said he had urged Mitsubishi to take over an island in the Bay of Island and develop golfing facilities there. Talks were also on with Union IT minister Arun Shourie about a submarine cable landing station at Haldia. Operations at the leather complex would start “in 2 months�.