Bengal Govt To Try Mix-'N'-Match Land Option

Bengal Govt To Try Mix-'N'-Match Land Option
Kolkata
The Times of India

Taking over land for industry is now the state government's greatest worry. With different models land acquisition or direct purchase reaching a dead end, as evident in Singur and Vedic Village, the state government is trying out a new model this time: a mix of acquisition and direct purchase. This is being applied in the case of a 3,000-acre plot in Panagarh in Burdwan for a proposed industrial park.

After Singur, this is one instance where the government is going to take over such a huge area of land through the direct purchase route, keeping the acquisition option ready as a fall-back option. A portion 400 acres has already been acquired by WBIDC. Interestingly, it is being applied on commerce and industries minister Nirupam Sen's political turf, Burdwan.

Land and land reforms department officials said that in case this model turns out to be successful, WBIDC is keen to apply it elsewhere as well. The top brass of the land and land reforms department, including minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah, met officials of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), including managing director Subrata Gupta, to work out this new model for the industrial park.

While Gupta was not available for comment, Mollah said that WBIDC wants imposition of Section IV(I) of the Land Acquisition Act for the area and also wants to purchase land directly. This has hitherto not been tried out in the state.

Officials in Writers' clarified that there is no bar on buying and selling of land under the Act even if Section IV(I) has been imposed. "Since anyone is free to sell their land, WBIDC itself can purchase directly where it is possible to do so easily. If it is not possible to purchase, land can be acquired," said a land department official.