“If it continues, it will not be good for the people. I am sorry to say that,” said Bhattacharjee while speaking at the 80th Annual General meeting of Indian Chamber of Commerce here.

He said there was a chaotic situation in the country with skyrocketing prices of petroleum products and essential commodities. The state Government could not check inflation all by itself as the products had an all-India market.

Bhattacharjee said 16,000 farmer suicides was not a matter of joke. The debt waiver scheme had not done any good to the farmers, only 27 per cent of farmers in the country and 11 per cent in west Bengal take loans from institutionalised credit sources.

Referring to the retail business sector, he said according to the policy of the West Bengal Government, retail chains form multinationals were still not allowed and the state Government did not want any foreign company to open retail outlet in the state.

“In the Left coalition, there are some outfits which are totally against multinationals coming into the retail sector,” the CM said, adding there was a gap between the consumer and the market and “we have to modernize our marketing system”. “We must go for retail in a big way very cautiously, taking all the stakeholders into confidence,” he added.

The CM pointed out that Metro Cash & Carry, a wholesale major from Germany, was also finding some problems in the state.

Pointing out that 2007 drew highest investment to the state, Bhattacharjee advocated treading on the path of industrialisation very cautiously and carefully.