Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) West Bengal president and Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya has proposed establishing a dedicated chemical park in West Bengal at an estimated combined investment of ₹1,500 crore, with Singur in Hooghly district identified as one of the most suitable locations. The proposal has been submitted to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, seeking to leverage a newly approved Central scheme that could bring up to ₹1,000 crore in Union funding to the state.

The Singur Connection

Singur carries deep political and industrial significance in West Bengal. In 2007, the site became the flashpoint of one of India's most consequential land-acquisition battles, when the then-opposition All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) led a prolonged and at times violent agitation against the acquisition of farmland for Tata Motors' Nano small car project under the late Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee-led Left Front government. The sustained protests ultimately forced the Tata Group to withdraw, with then-chairman Ratan Tata announcing the exit from Singur — ending one of the state's most contentious industrial ventures. That land has largely remained idle since, making it a recurring symbol of West Bengal's fraught relationship with large-scale industrialisation.

The Central Scheme Driving the Proposal

The immediate trigger for Bhattacharya's proposal is the Union Cabinet's approval on 24 July of the Bhavya Rasayan Scheme — a ₹3,030 crore Central initiative to establish three dedicated chemical parks across India. The scheme offers a Central grant of up to ₹1,000 crore per park, contingent on a minimum state contribution of ₹500 crore on a minimum of 2,000 acres of contiguous, encumbrance-free land. According to Bhattacharya, this creates a rare window for West Bengal to anchor a national-scale chemicals hub, with the state's combined infrastructure investment estimated at ₹1,500 crore or more, to be followed by private capital at a later stage.

Four Candidate Locations

Beyond Singur, Bhattacharya has identified three additional potential sites for the proposed park: Haldia in East Midnapore district, Raghunathpur in Bankura district, and Durgapur in West Burdwan district. All four locations were assessed on criteria including land availability, infrastructure readiness, and connectivity to downstream industrial clusters.

Projected Economic Impact

The proposal argues that the chemical park could generate direct employment across construction, plant operations, logistics, and ancillary micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Bhattacharya also cited multiplier effects for downstream sectors including agriculture, textiles, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, and electronics. The park would be developed with plug-and-play infrastructure — including a common effluent treatment plant (CETP), treatment, storage and disposal facility (TSDF), utilities, and pipelines — to attract anchor investors. In his submission, Bhattacharya described the project as 'a statement of intent that West Bengal is open for large-scale industrial investment, at a time when competing states will move quickly to stake their claims.'

What Bhattacharya Has Asked the CM to Do

Bhattacharya urged Chief Minister Adhikari to constitute an inter-departmental task force led by the state commerce and industries department and the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) to prepare the state's Challenge Route submission under the scheme. He also recommended that the WBIDC prepare an updated land title, encumbrance, and infrastructure-readiness dossier, and that the state proactively engage with the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Petrochemicals ahead of formal guidelines being issued. Earmarking the state's matching contribution in the upcoming budget, in consultation with the West Bengal Finance Department, was also recommended. Whether the ruling TMC government — which led the original Singur agitation — will act on a BJP proposal remains the central political question.