West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was the lone chief minister who attended the the conclusion of the conference on the second phase of green revolution held here on Saturday. The chief ministers of four other states gave it a skip while Jharkhand’s Assembly is under suspended animation.
These states were represented by the agriculture ministers and senior bureaucrats. Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal participated in the conference.
With chief minister Bhattacharjee sitting by his side, Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar made it clear that the Centre disapproved of acquisition of fertile land for industry.
Had Mr Bhattacharjee paid heed to the Centre’s advice, his party would not have faced such a backlash from the people who are angry over his land acquisition overdrive.
“We are not against the industry. It is important for the development of the nation. But the state government should not acquire double-crop land with access to easy irrigation facility,” Mr Pawar added.