Vote on Account passed in Bengal Assembly

Kolkata, Mar 17(UNI) The West Bengal Assembly today passed by a voice vote, a motion for Vote on Account (V.A) for Rs 9690,22,49,000 even as the opposition criticised the Government for its alleged failure in different fields.

Replying to the general discussion on budget, Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta said the state had received an investment of more than Rs 28,000 crore with altogether 1,180 industrial units coming up between 1991 and 2005.

He said among the projects in pipeline were the Russian Ural India and Mahabharat Motors of the Indonesian Salim group who were going to set up a truck manufacturing and a motorcycle manufacturing unit respectively with a total investment of Rs 1528 crore. While the work for Ural India project would be completed by December next year, the Mahabharat project was expected to be completed by December, 2007.

Stressing that medium and small scale industries has more potential for creating jobs than big industries, Dr Dasgupta said 72 per cent of the new projects in the state were below Rs 10 crore.

He said at present West Bengal was the first among the state in small industries while it was second in organised industry.

It topped the list in various agricultural products as well, he added.

Observing that unemployment was a national phenomenon, Dr Dasgupta said the State Government has asked Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) to find out the exact number of unemployed in West Bengal since the record in the register of employment exchange did not reflect the true picture with many retaining their names despite getting employed.

He said the State Government had come out of financial crisis and its revenues had increased by 14 per cent.

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