North East States victimised: Basu

Calcutta, AUG. 30. The West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr. Jyoti Basu, today advocated the need for evolving a common action plan by the State Governments in the eastern region and jointly taking up with the Centre the issues of common interest.

Speaking at the conclave of the Chief Ministers of the eastern region, Mr. Basu said wrong planning, coupled with discriminatory implementation of policies, had victimised the region for long which should be looked into by the State Governments and apprise the Centre of taking suitable actions. The Chief Minister observed that on the issues related to maintenance and upgrade of critical infrastructure like national highways, railways, airports, riverine and sea ports and telecommunication, which were under the exclusive control of the Union Government, the eastern region had been deprived of its due share. He said the continuance of the freight equalisation policy in respect of iron, steel and coal robbed the region of its natural advantages and hence other parts of the country had developed substantially making investments in those regions more economically viable.

Mr. Basu alleged that all these years, the Centre also used the industrial licensing policy as a `weapon' to encourage potential investors to set up units elsewhere in the country. ``In the wake of the so-called liberalisation, the Union Government has passed on the entire burden of economic development to the States without strengthening their revenue base,'' he said and called upon his counterparts of the region to raise the voice against all such irregularities.

- UNI

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Section  : Other States
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