End bureaucratic red tape for devpt of state: Mamata
Times of India | 4 March 2025
Kolkata: Stressing that she wanted to end bureaucratic red tape, CM Mamata Banerjee on Monday asked officials to accelerate the approval of projects for development of the state. The CM also issued a warning to the fire, environment and land department officials, saying there were often delays due to demands for bribes, and asked all to clear projects within 10 days.
Saying had received information that land mutation, settlement and conversion files were often kept pending for money, Banerjee asked land secretary Vivek Kumar to form a special team to keep an eye on the matter.
"Unused land can be better used for industry. You cannot give land on your own, a cabinet nod is needed. You must send the land report within seven days, otherwise you won't be heading the department," she told secretaries.
Banerjee said a state-level investment synergy committee meeting would be held fortnightly and chaired by the chief secretary so that genuine projects were cleared instantly, and also launched a committee website.
She asked DMs to hold meetings in districts within the next three days, and stressed single-window coordination so there was timely approval.
"The public is posting on social media that Bengal has a skilled workforce, including in the IT sector," the CM said, adding that lakhs of jobs would soon be created in the MSME sector. In the last six BGBS, investments worth Rs 19 lakh crore were announced. Of these, Rs 13 lakh crore has been invested while the rest is in process.
Banerjee reiterated that no laxity would be tolerated. "Files are to be properly studied by top- and middle-level officials. Our goal is to create solutions," she said. Banerjee asked CS Manoj Pant to do away with red tape, saying: "We need to ensure that entrepreneurs can navigate easily and there should not be any hindrance."
She emphasised the need for inter-departmental coordination both at the district and state level and said lacunae or negligence were to be avoided. All secretaries must provide timely approval within a month, and those who delay would have to face the music, the CM said. Banerjee said DMs had identified 3,000 acres of land, that were now part of the land bank. "My plea to all departments is to send details of land lying idle within seven days," she said.
Sanjay Budhia, MD of Patton, who was present at the meeting, said a strict timeline for disposal and completion of industrial projects and real-time tracking of investment proposals under the synergy committee portal would fast-track setting up of new industries.