Former Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has lashed out at Mamata Bannerjee over Infosys walkout from the state. Â He accused Mamata Bannerjee for decline in the Investment in the State. Â IT Major Infosys had to recently rethink its plans to setup center in Kolkata.
The Infosys project in the state hit a hurdle when the state government denied the special economic zone (SEZ) status to it, as the latter for the project as the state government is “in principle” against SEZ policy.
On June 13 this year, Infosys officials had paid a visit to the city during which the government had shown them state government on June 13 this year when the state government showed them the letter it has sent to the Centre on Software Technologies Park of India (STPI) proposal. The state is trying to route Infosys to the state via the STPI route.
Infosys had taken a 50-acre plot in the Rajarhat area and has also paid in full the amount in October last year. , in the northeastern fringes of the city for Rs 1.5 crore per acre for the project. It has made full payment for the land in October 2011.
“The new state government has failed to bring in any new investments in the state in last 14 months. Rather than attracting investments, the investors who had invested during our tenure are going away,” said Bhattacharya.
Bhattacharya, who is also a politburo member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), accused the state government of not creating proper atmosphere for investments.
“Why are the investors going away? Why is Infosys planning to go away from the state? We had worked so hard in convincing Infosys to invest in the state. In IT sector, there have been no investments in last one year,” he said.
During his tenure as chief minister, Bhattacharya was instrumental in convincing IT majors like Wipro and Infosys to invest in the state.
Infosys had purchased 50 acres of land for the project in Rajarhat, on the northeastern fringes of the city, for Rs.1.5 crore per acre for the project. The company also had made the payment in full in October last year.
Earlier this year, it wrote to the Trinamool government seeking clarification on its SEZ status, but the status was refused by Banerjee, who said her party’s manifesto was against SEZs.
Despite a series of discussions, the issue remains unresolved, making the project’s future uncertain.
Bhattacharya criticised the state government’s industrial policy as “directionless”.
“We had done the Salboni steel plant in West Midnapore. Now nobody knows what will happen to that. The policy of this government is totally directionless, which in future will push the state towards darkness,”
Bhattacharya took pot shots at the state government by saying that the government is only interested in spending money in festivals.
“A government cannot run this way. Wherever you see, you will see only festivals and functions. Are they (Trinamool) running a government or a local club,” he quipped.
Infosys Founder and Patron NR Narayana Murthy on Friday that  said he was positive about the Kolkata centre.
“I am certainly positive. There is no doubt about it. There are solutions to all the major problems of the world. Therefore, there is solution to everything that we think is unsolvable,” he said on the sidelines of an event, Anant Merit Scholarship 2012. He said this while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event, Anant Merit Scholarship 2012.