West Bengal CM Adhikari holds Janata Darbar, listens to people’s grievances

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. File | However, he added that the land at Singur on which Tata Motors had set up a car factory is no longer with the State government as it had been returned to the farmers.“The farmers at Singur cannot grow any crops because the concrete brought for the factory got mixed with the soil,” the Chief Minister said. The withdrawal of Tata Motors from Singur in 2008 is considered a setback for the industrial aspirations of the people of West Bengal. After a protracted legal battle, the land acquired by the Left Front government at Singur was returned to the farmers of West Bengal by Mamata Banerjee during the Trinamool regime.Speaking to presspersons at an event to mark 12 years of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, Mr. Adhikari said his government is serious on attracting investments to the State but added that the Bharatiya Janata Party government in West Bengal will not engage in “photo sessions” in the name of industrialisation.“We want to see if those [industrialists] investing in the State are good, whether there are allegations of tax fraud, land fraud or money laundering against them... whether they have taken land and not made any investments and want to meet so that they can keep the land,” the Chief Minister said, adding that his government will exercise caution over business groups investing in West Bengal.Mr. Adhikari said that land acquisition will not be an issue and that forcibly acquiring land like the Left Front government or forcing industries out of the State like the Trinamool Congress government was not the solution.The Chief Minister cited the allocation of land to the Border Security Force for fencing about 100 km of West Bengal-Bangladesh border as a major success of his first month as Chief Minister. He added that people were willing to give up land for industrialisation and that a road map for industrialisation will be reflected in the Budget that will be tabled in the Assembly later this month.Commenting on the Bengal Global Business Summit, Mr. Adhikari said that an event management firm was paid ₹635 crore for conducting various editions of the business summit. “I have the list. The previous Trinamool government paid ₹635 crore to an event management company in the name of organising the Bengal Global Business Summit. There will be an investigation. Not only will we conduct an investigation, but we will file cases,” he said.Zero tolerance against hooliganismThe Chief Minister, who spoke on a number of issues at the press conference, said that the government has a “zero-tolerance” policy towards unrest, hooliganism and anti-social activities.“After we came to power, there have been certain incidents, and we tackled them firmly, sending out a clear message that there will be zero tolerance towards this kind of unrest, hooliganism and anti-social activities. We will not allow such things to continue,” he said.The Chief Minister, pointing to the violence at Asansol and Park Circus, said that after strong police action, there was no recurrence of such incidents.Defends anti-encroachment driveMr. Adhikari also defended the ongoing anti-encroachment drives against hawkers on Kolkata streets and at railway stations.“People have the right to walk on footpaths. Nobody has the right to occupy them. No one has given me the right to hand over Kolkata’s wide roads and footpaths to anyone. I am accountable to the people,” he said.The Chief Minister highlighted congestion in areas such as New Market, Rajabazar and Metiabruz in Kolkata to argue that unchecked encroachment had become a governance issue rather than merely a livelihood issue.“The government will act humanely, and possibilities of rehabilitation on unused government land will be explored. But the encroachments will have to be removed first,” the Chi