Government apathetic to small and medium enterprises

Though the state government is going all out in favour of industrialisation throughout West Bengal, yet medium and small entrepreneurs think that the flavour of the industrial sector of Howrah has gone forever. They feel that the change in the outlook of the government has come as a new ray of hope but the fact remains that the scenario did not change much at the grass root level.

Howrah : Though the state government is going all out in favour of industrialisation throughout West Bengal, yet medium and small entrepreneurs think that the flavour of the industrial sector of Howrah has gone forever. They feel that the change in the outlook of the government has come as a new ray of hope but the fact remains that the scenario did not change much at the grass root level.

"The main challenge is to change the impression of Howrah which it had created on the mind of people over all these years. We are lagging behind by around 50 years," said Sandip Dutta, President of Foundry Association, Howrah.

In last ten years more than 200 small and medium sized industries have been shut down and many related small-scale units also suffered lockouts. While there are around 65,000 small sized registered units in Howrah, the number of unregistered units would be much more. Most of these units are struggling to survive.

"There is no concrete initiative on the part of the government to revive indigenous industries. Government is making room for the big banners and foreign direct investments only, " said Frafullo Chakraborty, chief advisor, Sangrami Sramik Union of Kanuria Jute Mill.

The President of Howrah Chamber of Commerce (HCC), Sankar Sanyal said that the main problem lies with the attitude of the lower level government officials. "Despite high level state government officials have brought in corporate culture as far as the industrialisation is concerned, the lower level officials are yet to catch up with them," he said.

However, Swadesh Chakraborty, Member of Parliament from Howrah, has a different story to tell. "A lot of small and medium sized units are coming up in Howrah. Even there are a number of proposals, we don't have much space to accommodate them. But it is not possible for the government to remedy all the problems and rejuvenate the old ones. Change is inevitable and Howrah is also going through that change," he contended.

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