Tokyo needn’t worry, it will never happen in Bengal: CPM govt

Speaking to The Indian Express late tonight, West Bengal Commerce and Industries Minister and CPM central committee member Nirupam Sen said he would do his best to ‘‘dispel Japanese fears.’’

For a rattled Japanese Ambassador Y Enoki, who today said that the incident and its fallout could cast a shadow over India as an FDI destination, Sen’s words would come as some comfort.

‘‘They (the Japanese) need not worry. I am sure that what has happened in Gurgaon will never happen in West Bengal. The Japanese have an altogether different experience in West Bengal,” said Sen, considered the No 2 man in the state Cabinet next to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

‘‘The Japanese have a very good and positive experience in West Bengal, they have a very good track record here in industrial relations,” Sen added.

The Minister underlined the example of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation whose investments in a Purified Terephthalic Acid project in Haldia have been to the tune of over Rs 2000 crore.

‘‘The Japanese experience has been exemplary in the Haldia project. It commenced production not only before the target date but not a single man day has been lost. It also started production well ahead of schedule and has started making profits,” Sen said.

Asked whether the Gurgaon incident would affect Tokyo-Kolkata trade relations, Sen said: ‘‘As far as West Bengal is concerned, I don’t see any change in that relation.’’

Sen said that several projects are on stream involving the Japanese government and the West Bengal government:

• The Japanese JBIC Bank has provided loans to the tune of almost Rs 400 crore to the state government for infrastructure development.

• Decks have been cleared for the construction of a crucial bridge at Kukrahati that will connect Haldia with Kolkata with entirely Japanese assistance.

• The state is also working on getting Japanese assistance, beginning with the feasibility report, for an overhead ‘‘light railway transit system’’ in Kolkata and the suburbs.

‘‘There is no reason whatsoever that any of these projects will be upset,’’ said Sen.

Chief Minister Bhattacharjee, who could not be contacted during the day, has been extremely bullish about Japanese involvement in the state. In several public fora and investors’ meetings, he has used the fact that West Bengal gets the most Japanese FDI as one key example of why the state is an attractive investment destination.