Malda violence: No communal tension in Bengal, says Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said there is no communal tension in the state and described the recent violence in Kaliachak in Malda district as a result of scuffle between BSF and local people.

"What happened there is a different issue. It was an issue between BSF and the local people. You should not ask such questions here because it is distorted and what happened there is disinformation.

"There was a quarrel between BSF and locals. It has nothing to do with the state government, party or administration. We managed the situation," Banerjee told reporters at the concluding session of the Bengal Global Business Summit.

"We have a peaceful atmosphere in the state. There is no communal tension here," Banerjee reiterated.

Later talking to reporters, Banerjee sounded hopeful of coming back to power after the Assembly election in the state to be held in this year.

"It is for the people to decide, but when someone works hard, people want a continuation of that hard work," she said.

Asked that the ministers of Narendra Modi government had praised her, Banerjee said, "I am always in favour of federal structure. The Central government is like parent and states are its children. If the relation between the state and the Centre is good, it will strengthen the federal structure.

"We have supported the GST as it was our commitment, although we have some reservations about the land bill," she said.

She announced that next year's Business summit will be held on January 20-21. "Several people had told us if we could postpone the dates by two weeks this year so that many more can come and join us. That is why we decided to hold the summit from January 20, 2017," she said.

The Bengal Global Business Summit, she said, attracted investment proposals worth Rs 2.50 lakh crore.

Banerjee said West Bengal is peaceful and no communal tension would be allowed in the state.

"We will not allow any communal tension. Also, we will not tolerate any goons and anti-social elements. The message is clear. Let us help the industry," she said drawing applause from the audience.

She said the present condition of traditional industries like manufacturing, tea, jute and engineering is a legacy of 34 years of Left front rule.

"Socio-economic development is also important for the state to develop. During our rule in the last four years, institutional delivery has increased from 65 per cent to 95 per cent. Our government reaches out to the grassroot people," Banerjee said.

Talking about the various investment proposals, which the state had received in the last two days, she said they were spread across various sectors.

"Big, medium, small and cottage industries. All are important and needed," she said. On the need for industrial development, she said, "future generations have to come up. They are the future of the country."

The state had received Rs 2.50 lakh crore investment proposals, out of which Rs 1.60 lakh crore were in the manufacturing sector in the fields of mining, textiles, energy, cement, power and others. Several MoUs were also signed between various state departments and private entities.

Regarding Nayachar island off Haldia, she said the state government would take over the land from Prasoon Mukherjee who would instead be given land at Baruipur and an eco-tourism park would come up in the island.

In the last summit, she had announced that proposals worth Rs 2.43 lakh crore were received, out of which proposals worth Rs 95,000 crore were executed and the rest are in process.