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TC Govt doesn’t share Assocham’s bleak job view
With West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee away in Delhi, her Cabinet colleagues on Wednesday stoutly defended her oft-repeated claim that the State was experiencing an employment boom, rejecting observations made by the Associated Chamber of Commerce that the State’s job scenario had been ripped asunder by the “ambiguous industrial policy” of the Government.
Rejecting Assocham’s claims that the State had witnessed a 33 per cent dip in job creation between April and June this year — a period during which the Government said it had created more than five lakh jobs —- as “impure”, State Transport Minister Madan Mitra said, “The Government is the biggest employer and one has to consider the employment given by it. We have taken about 50,000 people in the police forces. This apart, there have been appointments of teachers and other personnel, that have run into lakhs.”
An Assocham report said that the State had witnessed more than 33 per cent dip in job creation in the first quarter of 2012-13 compared to the preceding year. The report places Kolkata at the bottom of the list of eight metropolitan cities where the survey was conducted. Assocham fears if the current trend continues Kolkata could soon join the ranks of class II cities like Bhopal and Jaipur.
Bengal Industries Minister Partho Chatterjee had earlier said that the State had an investment proposal of more than `one lakh crore. But “there is a huge difference between proposal and actual investment on the ground”, according to the report.
Citing reasons for low job opportunities, Assocham secretary general, DS Rawat said “as there was no clear cut policy parameters after the political change in Bengal the investors adopted a policy of wait-and-watch”, adding the reason the investors had yet not been able to make up their minds on Bengal was the “unavailability of land.”
Rawat said that the flight of the Tatas in the wake of Singur movement had indeed harmed the State’s industrial climate, but a defiant Transport Minister wondered whether the Assocham had regards for “the people who supported our Singur policy and voted us to power”.
He also said “without demeaning the Assocham’s efforts that the report suffers from impurity and a year hence they would come out with a different report and we will help them with new inputs if need be”.
The Minister said the “peace in the Hills and ‘Jangalmahal’ should be a good reason to attract investment”. Contrary to the Ministers’ claims, the Chamber said the IT and the IT-enabled services could generate only 5,400 jobs. While over 1.5 lakh jobs were created all over the country, the Delhi-NCR region saw about 29,000 jobs. The total number of jobs created in Kolkata was 8,200. During this period, Kolkata’s job-market share was 4.3 per cent and Delhi-NCR’s was 23 per cent.
With West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee away in Delhi, her Cabinet colleagues on Wednesday stoutly defended her oft-repeated claim that the State was experiencing an employment boom, rejecting observations made by the Associated Chamber of Commerce that the State’s job scenario had been ripped asunder by the “ambiguous industrial policy” of the Government.
Rejecting Assocham’s claims that the State had witnessed a 33 per cent dip in job creation between April and June this year — a period during which the Government said it had created more than five lakh jobs —- as “impure”, State Transport Minister Madan Mitra said, “The Government is the biggest employer and one has to consider the employment given by it. We have taken about 50,000 people in the police forces. This apart, there have been appointments of teachers and other personnel, that have run into lakhs.”
An Assocham report said that the State had witnessed more than 33 per cent dip in job creation in the first quarter of 2012-13 compared to the preceding year. The report places Kolkata at the bottom of the list of eight metropolitan cities where the survey was conducted. Assocham fears if the current trend continues Kolkata could soon join the ranks of class II cities like Bhopal and Jaipur.
Bengal Industries Minister Partho Chatterjee had earlier said that the State had an investment proposal of more than `one lakh crore. But “there is a huge difference between proposal and actual investment on the ground”, according to the report.
Citing reasons for low job opportunities, Assocham secretary general, DS Rawat said “as there was no clear cut policy parameters after the political change in Bengal the investors adopted a policy of wait-and-watch”, adding the reason the investors had yet not been able to make up their minds on Bengal was the “unavailability of land.”
Rawat said that the flight of the Tatas in the wake of Singur movement had indeed harmed the State’s industrial climate, but a defiant Transport Minister wondered whether the Assocham had regards for “the people who supported our Singur policy and voted us to power”.
He also said “without demeaning the Assocham’s efforts that the report suffers from impurity and a year hence they would come out with a different report and we will help them with new inputs if need be”.
The Minister said the “peace in the Hills and ‘Jangalmahal’ should be a good reason to attract investment”. Contrary to the Ministers’ claims, the Chamber said the IT and the IT-enabled services could generate only 5,400 jobs. While over 1.5 lakh jobs were created all over the country, the Delhi-NCR region saw about 29,000 jobs. The total number of jobs created in Kolkata was 8,200. During this period, Kolkata’s job-market share was 4.3 per cent and Delhi-NCR’s was 23 per cent.
