Kolkata, July 8: It might just have been a coincidence that West Bengal Chief Secretary Amit Kiron Deb was scheduled to meet Union Cabinet Secretary to discuss crucial border-management issues — along Bangladesh and Nepal — on Tuesday, the day the Left parties announced their withdrawal of support to the UPA Government. But what followed next was certainly no mere coincidence. The Chief Secretary was informed by the Cabinet Secretary’s office that the meeting has been called off and would be fixed at a later date.

The CPM stalwarts in Delhi will not admit it but ministers and bureaucrats in the Left Front Government in the state are wary of the bitterness that now marks the UPA-Left equation. Several key infrastructure and industry projects are in the pipeline — all at critical stages of implementation. While a “friendly government” at the Centre did help move things faster, now everyone is guessing.

Asked how the pullout would affect the relationship between the two governments, Industry Minister Nirupam Sen, one of the latest entrants to the CPM Politburo from Bengal, said: “I hope the Government at the Centre will not take such a narrow decision of blocking projects in Bengal just because we have withdrawn our support. I don’t think projects will suffer. Governments come and governments go. But projects continue. The projects we are pursuing with the Centre stand on merit. So why should these suffer,” asked Sen.

But his bureaucracy knows the value of having a government at the Centre that had been part of the coalition and one that falls apart. And the stakes for the state are quite high:

• Airport modernisation scheme: The Rs 2300-crore modernisation scheme awaits approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. The bids for the schemes were invited and the firm has already been selected on the basis of the bids.

• The petrochemical SEZ at Nayachar in Haldia, the alternative to Nandigram: The state is a strong contender for the Petroleum, Chemical, Petrochemicals Investment Region. It’s one of the bidders among several other states like Maharashtra, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. The West Bengal Government has already got a favourable response from a number of departments whose representatives are on the Board of Approvals. If approved, the Centre will spend Rs.10,000-12,000 crore for infrastructure development. The SEZ incorporates setting up a deep-sea port.

• About a fortnight ago, the Cabinet approved the Rs 4676 crore East-West Metro for Kolkata. The flow of funds and finalisation of the project depend on the Centre.

• The Gorkhaland agitation is the Government’s biggest headache. The Gorkha Janamukti Morcha, in a letter to the Chief Minister, refused to participate in any bipartite meeting with the state Government and called for a tri-partite meeting with the Centre. So far, the Centre has worked in tandem with the state Government in dealing with the issue, providing security forces for deployment.