West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday laid out an eight-pillar strategy for the development of the state and making it a global hub for business.
Addressing the Bengal Global Business Summit at Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in Kolkata, the chief minister said: “We do not divide people on the basis of caste, creed and religion. We stay like family. Irrespective of one being from any part of the country, whenever one is in Bengal, he or she becomes part of our family and should be comfortable here.”
Her statement comes contrary to her party’s “Bohiragoto” campaign against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) whose major vote bank in West Bengal is believed to be from Hindi- speaking population.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo emphasized infrastructure development and no-strike culture in order to instill an ‘ease of doing business’ ecosystem transforming West Bengal into a global hub for trade.
“West Bengal is the first state to organize a physical business summit since COVID pandemic struck. There are eight pillars on which our strategy lays. First is world-class infrastructure, second is education, third is social security for the unprivileged and the fourth is skill development,” said Banerjee.
She further said, “The fifth pillar is expanding capital infrastructure while the sixth is the ease of doing business, the seventh is digitalization and the eighth is no strike and no mandate loss.”
Industrialists from different countries attended the event. Gautam Adani, chairperson of Adani Group, addressed the inaugural session. “Over the next decade, we expect our total investment in Bengal to exceed Rs 10,000 crore. We anticipate that this investment will create 25,000 or more direct and indirect jobs for the people of Bengal,” Adani tweeted.