Calcutta, Nov. 3: The state government hasn’t taken any decision on the Reliance proposal for a Rs 2,000-crore agri-marketing and retail chain in Bengal, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and CPM state secretary Biman Bose said today.

Emerging from a Left Front meeting, Bhattacharjee also said the Left would propose amendments to the central SEZ act to bring it in line with the “Bengal model”, which leaves limited scope for real estate promotion.

The clarification on the Reliance proposal came on a day the company opened its first retail outlets for food products, inaugurating 11 of them in Hyderabad.

“Neither have we discussed the Reliance proposal nor taken a decision on it. Both I and Nirupam (Sen, industry minister) had heard out Mukesh (Ambani, Reliance Group chairman) on the proposal during his last visit to Writers’ Buildings. But neither of us reacted to it,’’ the chief minister told The Telegraph.

“An evening will come when I will tell you everything,’’ he added, quoting, apparently, from Jean-Paul Sartre.

Bose, who also wears the hat of Left Front chairman, too, said: “If necessary, the government will examine the Reliance proposal. As of now, no decision has been taken.”

Left Front partners CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc (which controls the agri-marketing department) have been opposing the Reliance project. Jyoti Basu attended the front meeting to play peacemaker.

“The government has not moved ahead with the Reliance project, the chief minister told us. So we are satisfied,’’ Bloc state secretary Ashok Ghosh said.

On SEZs, the chief minister said: “The Prime Minister has accepted the Bengal model in which we have earmarked 50 per cent of the land for manufacturing and processing units and another 25 per cent for related industrial and social infrastructure. The rest can be used for real estate business. We shall ask for amendments accordingly.’’

Defending the scope for real estate, he said: “Otherwise, the investors will not be interested.’’

He denied planning to increase the share of land earmarked for processing in multi-product SEZs from 50 per cent to 75 per cent. This would neither be practical nor attractive to investors, he said.

Bose reiterated the government’s resolve to foil “reactionary attempts… to stop Tatas from setting up their small-car unit in Singur”.

“Details of the land deal with Tatas would be given in proper time,’’ he added.