Power blow turns investors paupers

  • 17/07/2008

  • Telegraph (Kolkata)

The papad factory owned by Sudhir Agarwala at Soharoi near Raiganj. (Nantu Dey) Raiganj, July 17: At least 80 entrepreneurs who had invested crores of rupees to set up small and medium scale industrial units in Raiganj are facing double blows. First, the investors could not start production even two years after they had opened the factories as the government-run power distribution company has not given connections. Second, banks have sent notices to these industrialists warning them that further defaults on the payment of installments would result in their property being impounded. "When the government is going all out to woo investors to backward districts like North Dinajpur, the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) has failed to provide commercial connections to the units opened about two years ago,' said Joynarayan Somani, general secretary of the West Dinajpur Chamber of Commerce. "We have written to the chief minister, seeking his intervention to end the stalemate and help the entrepreneurs stay afloat.' In 2004, state civil defence minister Srikumar Mukherjee