Nayachar

22.03°N 88.06°E / 22.03; 88.06

Nayachar
Nayachar is located in West Bengal
Nayachar
Geography
LocationBay of Bengal
ArchipelagoSundarbans
Administration
India
StateWest Bengal
DistrictPurba Medinipur
Demographics
Population2500

Nayachar is an island in the Hooghly River, off Haldia in Purba Medinipur in the Indian state of West Bengal. The island inhabited by few fishermen, has shot into the larger public view as the proposed site of the major chemical hub initiated by the erstwhile Left Front alliance led West Bengal Government. The hub was earlier proposed at Nandigram. Following the West Bengal State Assembly Election in 2011, the All India Trinamool Congress and Indian National Congress coalition under Mamata Banerjee led new West Bengal Government announced on 19 August 2011 that this project will be scrapped.[1]

Etymology

The Bengali word char means a strip of sandy land rising out of the bed of a river or the sea above water-level. Naya means new.

Description

The island is approximately 64 km2 (25 sq mi).[2] As of 2007, the island had approximately 2500 residents across 400 families. The island is officially classed as uninhabited by the government, so residents lack residential rights, addresses, and the ability to vote.[2]

History

In December 1987, Benoy Choudhury, then the West Bengali minister of land and land reforms, gave the island to the state's fisheries department for redevelopment. In 2000, the government set up 13 fishing cooperatives on the island, providing assistance by digging 315 ponds for farming of tiger prawns. In 2007, the government cancelled the contracts for the cooperatives, as they had not been profitable. This left the farmers working illegally.[2]

Proposed chemical hub
See also: Chemical hub and Nandigram violence

In 2006, it was proposed that a large special economic zone called a chemical hub would be set up in Nandigram, West Bengal.[3] The proposal led to protests in the region, which erupted into the Nandigram violence in 2007; the project was shelved in March 2007 as a result.[4] On 3 September 2007, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee stated that the government proposed to relocate the project to Nayachar, which was state-owned and technically uninhabited.[5] As a result, the project would neither entail land acquisition nor require significant population displacement.[6]

The chemical hub would have been a joint venture between West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) and New Kolkata International Development, a group comprising three companies including the Salim Group of Indonesia.[7] Indian Oil Corporation would have been an anchor investor.[8]

The project encountered difficulties. Nayachar comes under the Coastal Regulation Zone where industries are not permitted for environmental reasons.[9] A bridge would have been required to link the island to Haldia.[10]

The state fisheries department had sought the opinion of the Geological Survey of India regarding the island. GSI had said that the soft land of the island was vulnerable to earthquakes, cyclones and tsunamis, although it had not completed a site-specific survey, and geological data in the area had last been updated in 1985.[11][12] Additionally, the fisheries department demanded Rs 220 million from the WBIDC for cancelling its work on Nayachar, to repay a loan it had taken from the Government of India for the purpose.[7]

State Industries Minister Nirupam Sen stated that "The technology to consolidate the soil on such islands is available. They have done it on an island in Singapore," referring to the Salim Group's work on Jurong Island in Singapore.[13][10] On September 14 2007, it was reported that Geological Survey of India would take at least six months to complete a detailed geological study in Nayachar after the Government of West Bengal approved a geo-technical survey.[12]

In 2011, the project was officially scrapped.[14]

References
  1. "Nayachar project scrapped". Retrieved 15 September 2011.
  2. "A ghost island with 2500 souls - Chemical-hub choice Nayachar has no inhabitants, only 'encroachers'". The Telegraph, 5 September 2007. Calcutta, India. 5 September 2007. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
  3. "Salim SEZs, 6 others given green signal". Calcutta, India: The Telegraph, 7 October 2006. 7 October 2006. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 6 September 2007.
  4. "DM halts land acquisition". The Statesman. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  5. "Nandigram's chemical hub shifted to Nayachar". The Times of India. 4 September 2007. Archived from the original on 14 January 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2007.
  6. "Nayachar hub likely". The Statesman, 4 September 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
  7. "Fisheries dept asks for Rs 22 cr to vacate Nayachar". Indian Express, 6 September 2007. Archived from the original on 22 March 2009. Retrieved 6 September 2007.
  8. "Bengal identifies three alternative sites for proposed chemical hub". The Hindu Business Line, 4 September 2007. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
  9. "Nandigram's chemical hub shifted to Nayachar". Times of India, 4 September 2007. 4 September 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
  10. "Half a hug on hub - Govt proposes 'iffy' island, Congress not averse". Calcutta, India: The Telegraph, 4 September 2007. 4 September 2007. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
  11. "State opted for Nayachar ignoring GSI warnings". The Statesman, 6 September 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-07.
  12. Basu, Jayanta (14 September 2007). "Nayachar long haul". Bengal. Calcutta, India: The Telegraph, 14 September 2007. Archived from the original on 26 November 2007. Retrieved 14 September 2007.
  13. Acharya, Prasun and Mitra, Shyamal, Samudra Bandar Kachhey, Nayacharer Model Jurong, (Closer to the port, Jurong is Nayachar’s model), Ananda Bazar Patrika (in Bengali) print edition, 6 September 2007.
  14. "Nayachar project scrapped". Retrieved 15 September 2011.
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