NAYACHAR, 6 JAN: The state government seems to have earned the confidence of Nayachar residents allowing it to set up a 1,980 MW thermal power plant. The project has been stalled after the Centre delayed the environmental clearance saying it would affect the livelihoods of nearly 5,000 fishermen and their families living on Nayachar Island in the Hooghly River near Haldia in East Midnapore. Universal Crescent Power Private Limited, led by NRI industrialist Prasoon Mukherjee, will set up the plant with an investment of Rs 12,000 crore.

Nandigram: Five years after a movement that catapulted it into spotlight at the national level and spelt the beginning of the end of the 34-year Left rule, Nandigram is still counting the losses of the bloody anti-land acquisition movement. Development is at a standstill and many of those who had been at the forefront of the movement and lost their family members say they were used as cannon fodder against the mighty Left, which was defeated by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress in May last year.

Jyotip Mahato, 56, has cultivated his 12 bighas in of Kuldiha village, West Midnapore, for the first time in two years. Paddy and potato have grown and his small mudhouse bustles once again with the sound of grain being husked by women of the village. Jyotip returned home only a couple of months ago, having fled in 2009 when joint forces had raided the village for Maoists. “The Maoists fled into the forest through this village. The forces raided our village and I fled. Since then, I became a ‘Maoist’ in police records with several cases slapped against me,” says Jyotip.

Nandigram, 3 Jan: Five years after a movement that catapulted it into the national spotlight and spelt the beginning of the end of the 34-year Left rule, Nandigram is still counting the losses of the bloody anti-land acquisition movement. Development is at a standstill and many of those who had been at the forefront of the movement and lost their family members say they were used as cannon fodder against the mighty Left, which was defeated by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress in May last year.

MIDNAPORE, 3 JAN: Farmers in West Midnapore district are spending sleepless nights due to the delay in paddy procurement by the government. So far, the district administration has failed to achieve its target of paddy procurement. The government had decided to procure 3 lakh metric tons of paddy in the district. But, the district administration has, however, been able to procure only 1.5 lakh quintals so far.

DIGHA, 1 JAN: Digha has turned out to be the hottest spot in state for tourists who are in mood to celebrate. This popular sea resort, located 180 kilometres from Kolkata, is now bustling with party hoppers celebrating the New Year. The number of domestic tourists have outnumbered their international counterparts. Despite pollution and exorbitant hotel rates, the flow of tourists is on the rise. The calm and serene environs are luring a lot of tourists to Mandarmoni and Shankarpur beaches too.

. 20,000-cr project was put on a backburner after demand for steel got affected due to recession in 2008
After three years of shilly-shallying, a business group looks set to give wide-eyed villagers in Salboni in West Bengal their first factory and the state its largest industrial project in years.

Calcutta, Oct. 28: The government is likely to seek written commitments on compensation and rehabilitation for land losers from the JSW Group for its proposed steel and power plants in West Midnapore’s Salboni.

The company had announced that apart from cash, it would give free shares and a job to a member of each family that gave up land for the project.

This package was offered to buy around 450 acres directly from farmers in 2007.