Focus on infrastructure development

Bansa Gopal Chaudhury, chairman of the Asansol Durgapur Development Authority and West Bengal's Minister for Cottage and Small Scale Industries, has major plans to develop the Asansol-Durgapur region into a prosperous, cosmopolitan industrial centre and an educational and information technology hub. Excerpts from an interview he gave Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay.

What is the scope of ADDA's activities?

ADDA is a development authority entrusted with the responsibility for the total development of Asansol and Durgapur subdivisions. Its main objective is to develop urban infrastructural facilities and help the corporations and municipalities in development work. But ADDA's work is not restricted to municipal and corporation areas. An area of more than 1,615 sq km comes under the purview of ADDA.

What are ADDA's major achievements?

ADDA's achievements, particularly in recent years, have been manifold. The road network in this area had remained neglected for the past 40 years. ADDA constructed roads both within the Durgapur Municipal Corporation area and outside it. A network of roads in Okhra, Pandaveswar, Andal, Ranigunj, Jamuria, Asansol, Barabani, Salanpur, Jamuria, Kulti, Durgapur and Kaksha, among other places, now links the panchayat areas and municipalities and villages and towns. This has led to the growth of small businesses and industries in the area. More than 300 km of roads have been laid in this region over the past five years. Under the supervision of ADDA, National Highway 2 between Ranigunj and Panagarh has been made a four-lane stretch through a joint venture of B Seenaiah and Company and the Malaysian company RBM-PATI.

We have also made remarkable progress in the area of water supply. This is a dry region. Moreover, the presence of coal mines poses a major problem since there is very little groundwater left in the region. We have managed to develop a water supply system not only in the municipal areas, but also in the mine areas and the villages around the mines. ADDA and the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) have started the Ranigunj Coal Field Area Water Supply Scheme, at a cost of more than Rs.60 crores. It has also developed a piped water supply scheme in the Durgapur Corporation area with the help of the PHED, and invested more than Rs.5 crores in this project. In addition, ADDA will pump in around Rs.3 crores. It has also invested a lot of money in water supply schemes for the municipal areas such as Ranigunj, Kulti and Jamuria.

Another major achievement of ADDA is in the sphere of education. There was a dearth of engineering colleges in this area, there being only one in Durgapur. A few years ago we set up the first private engineering college in Asansol, the Asansol Engineering College. We are very proud of this, as it is the first engineering college set up in the area after Independence. We established three engineering colleges in Durgapur, and have been successful in introducing IT courses in all the engineering colleges. We are also trying to set up the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Durgapur.

We have also made much progress in rural education and women's education. We have set up a number of girls' schools in the rural belt and also started a women's college. There are more than 100 secondary schools in the region. We plan to open more. We wish to make the Asansol-Durgapur region an educational hub in the State.

What about electricity?

We have been helping the West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB) in various ways. For instance, we have given it land worth Rs.50 lakhs to set up a substation in Asansol. We have also given the WBSEB land to set up substations in Durgapur and Mangalpur. We have spent over Rs.70 lakhs for electrification of rural areas near the towns, and Rs.40 lakhs for villages falling under areas belonging to Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL). The West Bengal Rural Energy Development Corporation (WBREDC) is also active in various block panchayat samitis. ADDA is financing these projects. Although work is on in full swing, around 35 per cent of the region needs to be electrified.

What are ADDA's thrust areas?

Our thrust area is developing infrastructure and attracting new companies. A large number of them, including Larsen & Toubro and Supreme Industries, have already entered the region at our initiative. Other are mainly ferro-alloy industries. We are trying to encourage new industries like jute - as is being set up by Bajoria. Of course, IT is also a thrust area. We are working towards making this place an IT hub. We are in the process of building an IT park in Durgapur.

Rail linkage to this area has not been very strong. What do you intend to do about it?

The Indian Railways have not been taking any interest in developing the rail network in this region. The railway stations are neglected. It is through our own efforts that the Asansol, Durgapur and Ranigunj railway stations have been beautified. For at least the last 10 years, the railway authorities have done nothing for the development of the rail network in this area. Even the tracks are in a bad condition. I have taken up this issue with the Railway Ministry. I met the Railway Minister twice, in 2000 and 2001. I have written to Union Coal Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, seeking a concrete plan to get rid of the problem of illegal mining and subsidence in the area. This is a national issue and has been neglected for the past 20 years.

Is there a plan to rehabilitate people living in areas prone to subsidence or have lost their homes owing to subsidence?

For people living in subsidence-prone areas in Ranigunj, we have offered land at Mangalpur. But ECL has not yet bought that land. It is not serious about the rehabilitation programme.

What are ADDA's future programmes?

ADDA's activities have raised the hopes of the people in the region. They feel that ADDA should come forward in an even bigger way. We, for our part, are trying to fulfil our commitment. We will embark on bigger projects in the near future. We have just begun work on the Durgapur truck terminus. Two more terminii will be set up, in Asansol and Ranigunj. We plan to start a market complex, and have tied up with Bengal Ambuja to start a housing complex. There is a huge demand for housing projects among the middle class. But the most important programme is to attract entrepreneurs, and that is why we want to develop infrastructure.

How do you plan to attract entrepreneurs?

We provide escort services. We take the entrepreneurs' proposals seriously. We show them the land, fix the price and provide the land within a week. We also coordinate between the entrepreneurs and agencies such as the Disergarh Power Supply Company Limited and the DVC (Damodar Valley Corporation), ensuring that they do not face any problem. We are ready to give concessions in the matter of land and provide other facilities to industrialists wishing to set up business here. There is close coordination among ADDA, the local administration and the State administration to encourage industries. We are improving the road network system and building other infrastructure essential for the growth of industries. We are also in close contact with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), which sends to us interested parties.

Militant trade unionism has always made entrepreneurs think twice about setting up business in West Bengal. Has this proved to be a problem in attracting industries?

We have been successful in talking with the trade unions in this region, so much so that all the trade union leaders are interested in the development of the region industrially and in every other way. They have promised full support and cooperation. There are still some problems but these are minor ones. We try to negotiate between the trade unions and the managements. This has brought positive results. The fact that more and more new industries are coming up is ample proof that the problem of trade unionism is negligible.

Where do you see ADDA heading for?

We have managed to achieve quite a lot in the last four years. All the projects relating to roads, electricity, water supply and other infrastructure have been completed within the stipulated time-frame. Fifteen years from now, I hope ADDA will be as big as a metropolitan development authority, and the region will be as cosmopolitan and developed as Kolkata.