Three industrial parks for north

AVIJIT SINHA, TT, Siliguri, Nov. 30: Finance minister Amit Mitra today said the state government had given in-principle approval to entrepreneurs to set up three private industrial parks in north Bengal, which would entail an investment of nearly Rs 1,500 crore and generate about 55,500 jobs.

The minister announced the investments at the North Bengal Business Summit organised by the North Bengal Zonal Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry.

The announcement is almost in sync with the CII's proposal that like-minded businesses would be facilitated to come together, buy land and start clusters for various industries. But its not clear if same kind of industry will come up in each of the three parks.

Devi Prasad Karnam, the director of MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises), handed over approval letters to Anil Agarwal, Murarilal Agarwal and Kishan Agarwal to set up the three industrial parks.

"One park will be set up in Fulbari on 37.2 acres where 38 units will come up with an investment of Rs 175 crore. Around 6,500 people will get employment there," said Mitra.

There will be one more park at Silpangan, Fulbari, where 107 acres of private land has been acquired by an entrepreneur. "At Silpangan, there will be 139 MSME units which will make a total investment of Rs 630 crore and generate employment for around 23,000 people," the minister said.

The third park will be set up at Sannyasikata in Rajganj block of Jalpaiguri on 105.80 acres. Named as Silpabrata,the park will have 145 units with an investment of Rs 645 crore and the number of projected employment opportunities are 25,000, Mitra claimed.