West Bengal farmers protest power project expansion

October 13th, 2009 KOLKATA - The Videocon Group, which has proposed to set up a Rs.21,000-crore steel and power project in West Bengal's Burdwan district, Tuesday said Coal India has opposed the plant, saying there was a coal bed below the project area. "We have already done the project details and design for the plants.

October 8th, 2009 KOLKATA - JSW Steel, part of the Sajjan Jindal-owned JSW Group, aims to raise Rs.6,600 crore through debt for financing its Rs.11,000-crore steel project in West Bengal's Salboni, a senior official said here Thursday. "Sixty to 65 percent of the total project cost will be funded through debt.

October 6th, 2009 KOLKATA - The West Bengal government has appointed Jurong Consultants India to prepare the master plan for the state's first auto component park in Guptamoni of West Midnapore district. "We have appointed Jurong as our master plan consultants.

September 1st, 2009 KOLKATA - Auto major Tata Motors, which pulled out its small car Nano project from Singur in West Bengal last October amid controversies, Tuesday said it would return the factory land to the state government if it was paid the money it had spent to set up the now-abandoned plant. At the same time, it emphasised it would not stand in the way of any development on the land, the acquisition of which sparked off violent protests by a section of local farmers led by the main opposition party of the state, the Trinamool Congress.

September 1st, 2009 KOLKATA - Auto major Tata Motors, which pulled out its small car Nano project from Singur in West Bengal last October amid controversies, Tuesday said it would return the factory land to the state government if it was paid the money it had spent on the now-abandoned plant. "If they compensate the total investment we put into the land, we may return it," company chairman Ratan Tata told reporters on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of group company Tata Tea here.

July 18th, 2009 KOLKATA - The West Bengal unit of the Congress Saturday said it will continue the state-wide agitation protesting an attack by supporters of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) on its legislators in Burdwan district last week. "We have taken a decision in our core committee meeting that Congress would launch a state-wide protest by organising rallies, meetings and sit-in demonstration from August this year," West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee working president Subrata Mukhopadhyay told reporters.

May 29th, 2009 SHIMLA - Himachal Pradesh Friday entered into an agreement with Kolkata-based Eastern Mineral and Trading Agency (EMTA) for setting up a 500-MW thermal power plant in West Bengal, from where the electricity generated will be transmitted back home. The plant will be established at Raniganj.

May 29th, 2009 KOLKATA - With the opposition Trinamool Congress, now part of the central government, having said it would oppose the Nayachar chemical hub project, West Bengal's ruling Left Front government Friday said it had not received any notice yet from the central government to scrap it. "The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had given us the green signal to set up the Nayachar project.

May 20th, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal is keen to take up a hydel power project in Bhutan and wants the central government's help in this regard, a senior government official said here Wednesday. 'We want to set up a project, with our own investment, in Bhutan and we have asked the government of India to help us,' power secretary Sunil Mitra told reporters here.

April 1st, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal may have lost a chance to nurture world's least expensive car but there is a possibility of the project coming back to its original site Singrur if the makers Tata Motors decide so, a top official said here Wednesday. Principal Secretary (Industry) Sabyasachi Sen's comment followed news reports quoting him as saying that the Nano 'will definitely be made in West Bengal as the low-cost car needs at least four to five plants'.

March 14th, 2009 KOLKATA - After the Singur jolt, the West Bengal government is slowly making arrangements to house the state's first auto components park in Guptamoni in West Midnapore district. A special purpose vehicle (SPV), floated by the developers of the project, has now started buying land directly from land owners in Guptamoni, some 127 km from here, a top official of West Bengal Industrial Infrastructure Development Corp (WBIIDC) told IANS Friday.

March 9th, 2009 RAIPUR - Nearly a hundred farmers took out a rally here Monday to protest land acquisitions by GMR Energy at Raikheda village in Chhattisgarh for its Rs.55 billion power project. The company is purchasing land directly from nearly 250 farmers for a 1,200 MW coal-fired power plant.

February 7th, 2009 RAIPUR - A Rs.55 billion project has hit a roadblock in Chhattisgarh as about 150 farmers Sunday decided not to hand over their land to GMR Energy for its proposed 1,200 MW thermal power project. 'GMR Energy has tasked several agents or brokers in the village to persuade farmers to surrender their land.

January 20th, 2009 KOLKATA - Chinese steel major Sinosteel has got land in Haldia in West Bengal for its cold forged steel rolls manufacturing unit, a top official said here Wednesday. 'We will take another one year for the commissioning of the project.

December 28th, 2008 KOLKATA - The West Bengal government Monday allotted 748.97 acres to Jai Balaji Industries for setting up a five-million-tonne integrated steel plant at Raghunathpur in Purulia district. 'We will get another 250 acres over and above this within the next 10-15 days,' company chairman and managing director Aditya Jajodia said after receiving the land allotment order from state industries minister Nirupam Sen.