GUWAHATI, Nov 20?The Federation of Industries and Commerce of North Eastern Region (FINER) has resented the renewed move to include North Bengal in the North Eastern Council (NEC).
The move is aimed only at making this part of the neighbouring West Bengal a beneficiary of the benefits applicable to the NE region, said the industries and commerce body. The renewed move has come to light with reports on it in a section of the national print media, it said.
FINER is of the view that the NEC and consequently the various fiscal packages offered to the NE region is based on the rationale that the region is relatively backward in comparison to the mainland of the country due to its geographical isolation.
Historically, following the partition of the country in 1947, Assam and other NE states were geographically isolated from the rest of the country. A small strip of around 22 kms connects the region with North Bengal since then. As a result, the NE region is deprived of the growth potentials for industrialisation as available to the rest of the country, the industries and commerce boy said.
In 1997, Government of India announced a new Industrial Policy for North East region (NEIP) and the policy documents clearly states, ?In view of the continuing backwardness of the North East region, the need for a new and synergic incentive package was widely felt to stimulate development of industries??
Should the benefits of the NE Industrial Polciy be also extended to North Bengal, the very purpose for which the NEIP was announced for the NE region would be defeated, said the Federation. A similar proposal was also initiated in February 2003 and was mooted in the NEC States? Chief Ministers? conclave at Gangtok in 2003.
FINER and other industries and commerce bodies of the region vehemently opposed the move at that time together with the Chief Minster of Assam. Following such oppositions, the Department for Development of North Eastern Region (DONER), Government of India on Novemebr 27, 2003 clarified that there was no proposal then for inclusion of the North Bengal districts of West Bengal in the NEC.
But today, hardly a year has passed that the issue has again cropped up. The Governments of all the NE states should come together and adopt a bold stand against this move, said the industries and commerce body.
A group of directors of the FINER in a meeting discussed the issue of revival of the move and observed that it would be the most unfortunate development for the NE region if the move became successful. For, the extension of the benefits of the NEIP to North Bengal would lead to large-scale migration of industries from the NE region to the North Bengal districts and would thereby affect the economy of the NE region, they observed.
For, they maintained that North Bengal being better located in terms of major market and sources of raw materials, industries from the NE region would move to it. This would have serious negative implication for stability of the NE region, they opined.