There can be no denying the shadow which the Nandigram events and their aftermath have cast on the state and its industrialisation project. Already major players have begun indicating impatience with the marked deceleration of governmental enthusiasm for expediting pending projects crucial for the state’s growth and employment generation potential. Such procrastination, Bengal cannot afford. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee needs to close the Nandigram chapter and move on. And here that familiar Frenchman on a horse may have some words he can heed: “Strategy is the art of making use of time and space... Space we can recover, lost time never.”