Why Bengal Must Acquire Land Lying With Sick PSUs  

In 2005, the then West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee tasked the West Bengal Consultancy Organisation Ltd (Webcon) to come up with a restructuring plan for 18 sick state public sector units (PSUs). Among other things, the former CM was planning to put prime land occupied by these ailing PSUs to better use.
 
"The prime concern is optimal commercial use of the large land areas now under the red category PSUs which cannot be revived, so it is a problem that needs to be addressed soon," Bhattacharjee had said at that time. Eleven years on, the West Bengal government has yet to achieve the task.
 
However, there seems some hope. Earlier this month, media reports said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress government in the state was planning to shut shop of 16 ailing units, employ their staff elsewhere, and offer the acquired land bank to the industry.
 
Units identified for a shutdown include Kalyani Spinning Mill, West Dinajpur Spinning Mill at Islampur, West Bengal Leather Industries Development Corporation, Shilpa Barta Press, and West Bengal Tea Development Corporation Limited. As the state's current Minister For Micro And Small Scale Enterprises and Textiles Swapan Debnath estimates, most of these “no-hope concerns” started operations in the 1940s and the 1950s, and have outlived their age.
 
A little bit of note on its historical progress explains why West Bengal is among the most space-starved state in the country where building fresh infrastructure is a task achieving which is next to impossible. Most of the Bengal was built during the British Rule—the state's architecture, especially capital Kolkata, stands as a proof of that. It is also during that time when commerce and trade flourished there. The state was on its way down when authorities shifted their focus towards southern and north Indian cities. And, behind the downfall lay the space crunch. The tropical location of the state also made infrastructure development beyond a point impossible.
 
As a result, the once prosperous state, where people came to find job and pursue higher studies and start business, started losing sheen. People now went to Mumbai or Delhi to do so. All that was left with the state and those living there was a feeling of nostalgia and a sense of loss.
 
By leaving behind the past (read closing down the sick PSUs), the state may be able to regain, even if slowly, what it used to have. Hurrying things up may be a good starting point.