CPM?s infighting and Trinamool Congress?s non-cooperation have marred the Haldia Trade Fair, for which West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had taken special initiatives. In order to keep it “politcs” free, Bhattacharjee put the onus of organising the fair on chief secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty jointly with the CII (eastern region). But there has been no buzz around the fair and many participants didn’t turn up for the seven-day annual event.

?This is all for lack of political goodwill,? said a CII official on conditions of anonymity.

The official said while the number of stalls that wanted space in the Haldia Trade Fair ground was 180, only 100 turned up finally. ?In fact, both the CPM and the TMC sabotaged our efforts and it did not happen as we had envisaged,? the official said.

Haldia Trade Fair, which was planned to showcase Haldia as an investment destination, has been introduced in lieu of the Haldia Ustav. Lakshman Seth, former MP, was the key architect of Haldia Ustav, which has been going on since the early nineties. But after Seth’s defeat in the the May 2009 elections, he did not get too involved in the Haldia Trade Fair.

Haldia Ustav featured a seven day long trade fair, with all the industries operating there as well as industries from outside participating in it. It also orgainsed big budget starry cultural shows along with the trade fair, which pulled enormous crowds at the trade fair ground.

A member in the committee of the organizers said: ?Although we involved Lakshman Seth, Tamalika Seth, MLA from Haldia, and Subhendu Adhikary, the present MP in the trade fair, none came up with a proper response. Tamalika Seth was given the responsibility to organize cultural shows but she didn?t work on it. Adhikary didn?t even attend the inaugural session, where the governor was present.”

However, both Seth and Adhikary denied they were being non-cooperative. ?I have done my bit. It is the government officials and a few industries that have the main role to play,? said Adhikary.

Lakshman Seth said: ?Since the idea was not to have any political touch so I didn?t want to push myself into the thing. I have been organizing Haldia Ustav as the chairman of the Haldia Development Authority (HDA). Now I am not a chairman there and not an MP even,? Seth said.

As for chief secretary Chakraborty, he didn’t agree that the fair was a lack-lustre affair this time. “A lot of new companies participated in the Haldia Fair for the first time,” he said. Companies like Ennore Coke, Hooghly Metcoke, Jusco, Apeejay Infra Logostics, Sristhi Infrastructure and Universal Success Ltd participated in the fair for the first time. “Majors like the Indian Oil, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd, Exide, Kolkata Port Trust and many others who have always been associated with the Haldia Trade Fair didn’t stay away either,” he pointed out. “The purpose of generating interest among investors has been served,” Chakraborty added.

The trade fair, which started on January 29, will continue till February 4.