Kolkata: The Tata group may have said “Good Bye” to West Bengal for its Nano project, but West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is actively wooing the auto industry.
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To in big automobile industries to Bengal, a committee has reached Germany on Monday morning. In Germany now to promote Bengal as a favourable business destination, Mamata Banerjee is slated to meet top officials of the German automobile giant in Munich on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Amit Mitra visited the BMW plant in Munich accompanied by his state Chief Secretary, Finance Secretary, Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee and Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay.
Adding that Bengal government wants a “sustained relationship” with BMW, he said that the automobile major stressed on “green mobility” and made presentation on electric cars and bikes. About BMW’s intention to invest in Bengal, Mitra said that all options were open.
West Bengal’s efforts to host another automobile unit through the Tata Motors’ small vehicle project in Singur is of course history although Ms. Banerjee, as the opposition leader who spearheaded the Singur land agitation leading to the project’s flight, has often remarked that it is possible to turn the state into an auto hub. The session was addressed by Amit Mitra, state minister-in-charge, finance, excise, commerce & industries and Sovan Chatterjee, Mayor of Kolkata and minister-in-charge, environment and housing. On Monday, the delegation was in Dusseldorf where meetings were held with Chambers of Commerce and Industry of the regions as also government representatives of the North Rhine Westphalia Region. The two sides also made a decision to appoint pointspersons for taking “today’s talks forward”.
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With West Bengal being the fourth largest economy in the country, Amit Mitra said the state has enormous potential and the government is working hard to realise it.
