Durgapur: Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Wednesday vowed to restore Durgapur its lost industrial glory while assuring people that his government would seek to reopen Mining and Allied Machinery Corporation (MAMC) and Hindustan Fertilisers Corporation. On the farm front, he said patato growers, who had suffered a great loss this year, would be given adequate compensation.

Bhattacharjee, who was here to attend several functions, clearly came with a bag of promises keeping in mind the forthcoming municipal elections in Durgapur.

The chief minister, who inaugurated Ginger hotel of the Tata group, said his government believed in transparency in development policies. "We will not compromise with the development process in the state. I have already asked the central minister concerned to take necessary steps immediately to reopen MAMC. It is an asset to the state and it should be reopened soon. The central minister concerned has assured us that he will take all necessary steps to reopen MAMC," he said.

Bhattacharjee added: "We are also determined to reopen Hindustan Fertilisers very soon. The development and industrialisation process in the state should not be stopped."

The urban development minister, Ashok Bhattacharya, said that the government would strictly follow its land policy to avoid any controversy. "A lot of development work is happening throughout the state and more and more roads, factories, educational institutes, housing complexes are being built. But the development process should be done keeping future in mind," he said.

The chief minister said: "We have to think about the future generations while taking up any development work. A perspective plan for Durgapur for 2025 has been made by IIT Kharagpur. Today there are five lakh people in Durgapur, but the scenario would be different after 25 years," he said and added that in Durgapur around Rs10,000 crore had been invested in the last three years and more were coming. Later in the evening, the chief minister inaugurated the Neo Metallics Integrated Steel Plant at Gopalpur on the outskirts of Durgapur. Neo Metallics, which is promoted by the hosiery products major Rupa group, has been set up with a capital investment of Rs525 crore to make pig iron of various grades.