Bengal is seeking a fresh legal opinion on the proposed Tajpur port, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said, indicating that infrastructure project linked to the Adani group may go for re-tender. After a competitive bidding in early 2022, the state had picked Adani Ports for the Rs 25,000-crore port and industrial zone project and awarded a letter of intent in October that year to India’s largest private sector operator.
However, allegations of market manipulation and impropriety raised by US-based short seller Hindenburg rocked the Adani group in January 2023 and the political fallout cast a shadow on the Tajpur project. Asked later if the Bengal government would cancel the LoI given to Adani, Banerjee clarified that a legal opinion is being sought.
In the seventh edition of the Bengal Global Business Summit held in November 2023, chief minister Banerjee had invited investors to develop Tajpur, conceived as an alternative to Bengal’s Haldia and Calcutta ports that are unable to handle large ships due to low river draught.
Within days, however, Bengal industry minister clarified in Delhi that communication with the Adanis were on, indicating that the state was yet to scrap the Adani-won tender. The state said certain clearances were required from four departments of the Union government such as home, external affairs, defence and shipping. The ministry of home affairs had given a conditional clearance and made certain observations, and clarifications were sought on those observations, it was noted.
