[Assam] West Bengal in NE?(The Assam Tribune,29.01.2008)

[Buljit Buragohain]

West Bengal in NE?
By A Staff Reporter
 GUWAHATI, Jan 28 – Again an attempt has allegedly been made to dilute the interest of the NE states. The map drawn by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the largest confederation of the country’s industry and commerce organisations, for the purpose of the North East Investment Summit it held last month in the city has shown West Bengal also as a part of the NE region. 

However, Chairman of the CII State Council Abhijit Barooah said that it was a mistake and there was no reference to West Bengal either verbal or written, in the summit. There is no question of the CII proposing inclusion of West Bengal in NE region, he said assertively.

But, this act of the CII has been widely condemned here and has been described as an attempt at diluting the interest of the NE states by a vested interest lobby. Significantly, the summit was hosted by Assam with the DoNER Ministry sponsoring it.

North East Students’ Organisation (NESO) president Samujjal Kumar Bhrattacharyya described the act as an injustice and a deliberate attempt to deprive the NE states of their due.

“We don’t accept West Bengal as a part of the NE region. Other than the seven states of the region and the new entrant Sikkim, no other state has the right to claim itself to be a member of the NE region or the NEC,” he said.

The NESO views it as a diabolic attempt by the DoNER, CII and the Central Government to dilute the interest of the NE states, Bhattacharyya said and questioned the silence of the Assam Government over the issue.

When there is a problem in NE region, the Central Government tries to draw the eastern most boundary of the country along the eastern boundary of West Bengal. But when there is any attempt at developing the NE region, such efforts remained incomplete for it if West Bengal is not benefited, Bhattacharyya said. 

Executive president of the North East Chamber of Commerce D K Sarma vehemently opposed the alleged move to include West Bengal in the North East Region.

He described the development as the product of a conspiracy by the West Bengal Government in association with the CII. This move is aimed at accruing benefits of the non-lapsable pool of funds and the DoNER initiatives meant for the development of NE states by West Bengal.

He recalled an incident about two years back, in which West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee was heard issuing threats to withdraw support to the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre if benefits of the DoNER initiatives were not extended to West Bengal.

West Bengal also demanded Rs 100 crore from the Central Government to develop Haldia port as a gateway to NE states during the first South East Asian Car Rally, he said.

North Eastern Tea Association vice chairman Bidyananda Barkakoty also resented the CII act. 

Finer president R S Joshi described the map as the product of a long-drawn strategy by a certain lobby, which includes a number of players. Earlier, there was a move to extend the benefits of the NE Industrial Policy to North Bengal. That time, the well-meaning people and organisations of the region opposed the move and it was shelved.

“These conspirators have now come up with a new design. For some forces the Look East Policy of the Central Government begins in West Bengal and ends there. We need to be watchful and foil the design,” said the FINER president.

General secretary of the Asom Jaityatabadi Yuba-Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) Manoj Baruah also opposed the act.
  
(The Assam Tribune,29.01.2008)



       
---------------------------------
 Download prohibited? No problem. CHAT from any browser, without download.