Anthony Salim, the man behind the name that has become synonymous with almost all the CPI(M)’s woes here, dropped into Writer’s Buildings today to reaffirm his faith in the Left Front government, still reeling from the peoples’ protests against land acquisition for the Indonesian tycoon’s projects.
Anthony, CEO and son of group founder Sudono Salim, met Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, commerce & industries minister Nirupam Sen and some key bureaucrats for a meeting that lasted around 90 minutes, or half the total time he spent in the city in between flights.
“In fact, this is my first time in Calcutta,” Salim said, emerging after the meeting. “I am very happy to be here. Thank you for all the opportunity given to our group to participate in West Bengal’s development and ? we hope that all the projects will progress.”
With most of his projects mired in controversies, Salim chose to discuss his long-term “vision” for the state.
As Sabyasachi Sen, the principal secretary to the commerce & industries department put it, Salim discussed his vision of closer synergies between China — where he has large industrial interests —- and India, and a new interest in processed foods and healthcare.
“He said he will work with the state government,” said Sen, “and he agreed that the projects should be taken forward after consultations and consensus.”
Salim was introduced briefly by Prasoon Mukherjee, the non-resident Indian who mediated the deal between the Indonesian tycoon and the state government in July 31, 2006, two months after Bhattacharjee took over for his second term as chief minister.
Salim had come specifically to thank the government and the people: that was the official reason for the visit, coming a fortnight after the CPI(M) got a huge rebuff in panchayat elections from people in rural Bengal especially in the two districts where Salim’s giant industrial and infrastructure projects had been planned.
From mid-2006, Salim and his allies had announced three separate projects.
The largest, involving an investment of Rs 40,000 crore, was to be implemented by a special purpose vehicle, New Kolkata Infrastructure Development. The NKID was to set up two special economic zones, a cluster or industrial estates, a 100km expressway and a clutch of townships, involving the acquisition of a total of nearly 37,300 acres.
The NKID project got a battering in 2007, when people of Nandigram in East Midnapore resisted violently the government’s attempt to acquire farmland for a chemical industrial estate and an SEZ without consulting them.
The result showed up this year: the CPI(M) was routed in the elections to the three-tier panchayat setup in East Midnapore and South 24 Parganas.
The NKID project has now shrunk to a rump around Haldia — no North-South expressway, no townships, no health city, for now at least.
The government and the CPI(M) have said all projects will be done only after consultations with local people.
Another project, a motorcycle manufacturing company titled Mahabharat Motors, was to build low-cost bikes with Chinese technology and branded Arjun by Bhattacharjee himself.
On Wednesday, TVS Motors came and took over the plant for a local manufacturing base for its own brand. No Arjun.
The third project, also in Howrah, was an ambitious township billed as the largest foreign direct investment in real estate at that time. The project is yet to be completed and there is talk that ownership has changed.
