SILCHAR, Jan 11 � Assam Industries and Commerce, Power (Electricity) and Public Enterprises Minister Pradyut Bordoloi on Thursday said that big industries cannot be set up in Assam because lands here are primarily agricultural and cannot be handed over to the industrialists.
While delivering a special lecture on �Prospect of industrial development in North Eastern region� during the first Management fest �Paarbon 2014� organised by the department of Business Administration, National Institute of Technology Silchar, Bordoloi said that every plot of land in the State is classified as an agricultural land and with organisations like the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, always up on their demands to offer land patta, it is very difficult for the State Government to give lands to the industrialists. �Big industries will not come to Assam. Every land is classified as agricultural land and if we offer lands for industrial set up, immediately there will be hue and cry,� the minister was quoted as saying.
However, Bordoloi did say that the only solution from this crisis is the MSME sector. He mentioned about the Rs 9000 crore Gas Cracker project in Dibrugarh which is nearing its end. He was quick to say that the project will be able to churn out 500 downstream industries generating 1.5lakh employment in the State.
The Industries Minister narrated an account of the evolution of the State from the pages of history and made the management students aware of how Assam land remained predominantly agricultural. He also said that since 2001, the Tarun Gogoi- led Congress Government in the State has been committed towards ushering in development in the State to restore peace. �Peace will come when there is concentrated effort towards development,� Bordoloi said.
Meanwhile, Prof NV Deshpande, director, NIT Silchar has said that soon the institute will start Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) and already the Ministry of Information and Technology, Government of India has sent its approval. �With this course, the students interested to know about JAVA and ORACLE can have the lessons here instead of moving to places like Pune,� Prof Deshpande said adding that Silchar will be the 11th CDAC destination and an obvious alternative to Pune for the students of this part of the country.
