Buddhadeb expresses strong reservation about nuke deal with US

Asansol, Aug 28 (UNI) West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today reiterated that the nuke deal with the US would harm the country.

Addressing a conference of the CITU-affiliated Steel Workers' Federation of India at Burnpur, he said, '' After the deal, the US will definitely interfere in our internal matter. '' Dwelling on steel production, he said out of 1,200 million ton of steel produced in the world, India produced only 49 million ton.

'' That is why we are going to establise six new steel plants in the state, where the educated unemployed youths will be provided with employment, '' he stated.

M K Pandhey, general secretary of CITU, said, '' Earlier the Centre proposed to sell out IISCO at the cost of Rs 400 crore to Mukund Steel. But the CITU opposed the said decision and forced the government to invest Rs 10,000 crore for its modernisation which we think is an achievement on the part of CITU. There must be a time limit for the completion of modernisation work of IISCO. '' UNI