Days after Chief Minister Buddadeb Bhattacharjee declared that Indonesia-based Salim group’s Expressway was put on hold due to the land acquirement problem, Prasoon Mukherjee, Salim Group’s pointsman and chairman of NKID (New Kolkata Infrastructure Development) expressed confidence that the other jumbo projects of the Group, including the PCPIR, are on track.

Mukherjee said “We have several projects in Bengal and the Expressway is a small part of it. The momentary hold on the Raichowk-Kukrahati project will not affect our other projects, which are bigger in proportion. I have full confidence on the state government and the chief minister regarding the industrial development in the state,”.

In the teleconference, Mukherjee, who is now abroad, said he is till now to get an official order from the state government indicating that the Expressway project is on hold.

“But I have heard of it,” he said. “Regarding the Expressway, we are prepared to wait. Our initial work and land survey is over. Whenever a consensus for land is achieved, we will go ahead with it.”

On the subject of the land acquisition problem in Bengal, Mukherjee said: “People’s consensus is necessary for land acquisition. The people must be made aware of the positive side of development, before one asks for their land. I trust the government is doing just that.”

Mukherjee stressed that all major projects in Bengal, including the PCPIR and township developments projects, are on track and moving on smoothly.

“We already have 13,000 acres and are in a position to claim another 12,000 acres.”

A non-resident Indian, Mukherjee had mediated the deal between the Salim Group and the state government in July 31, 2006, two months after Bhattacharjee took began his second term as the chief minister.

From mid-2006, the mega corp announced three separate projects. The largest, involving an investment of Rs 40,000 crore, was to be implemented by a Special Purpose Vehicle, the New Kolkata Infrastructure Development.

The NKID was to set up two Special Economic Zones, a cluster or industrial estates, a 100-km Expressway and a clutch of townships, involving the acquisition of nearly 37,300 acres.

The NKID project received a setback in 2007, when people of Nandigram violently resisted the government’s attempts to acquire farmland for a chemical industrial estate and an SEZ without consulting them.

The result showed up this year: the CPM was routed in the elections to the three-tier panchayat setup in East Midnapore and South 24 Parganas.