West Bengal identifies 5,000 acres of idle land for industrial use
The state plans to approach Union ministries to release land held by closed central public-sector undertakings.
West Bengal plans to add over 5,000 acres of unused land from closed central public-sector undertakings to its industrial land bank, according to a report by Urban Acres. The state government has identified these sites and intends to ask the relevant Union ministries to release them.
The identified locations include land from Hindustan Cables Ltd in Rupnarayanpur, Hindustan Fertiliser in Haldia, and the Mining and Allied Machinery Corporation in Durgapur. Additionally, officials are looking into approximately 600 acres in Katwa that were acquired for NTPC but remain unused.
Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta recently stated that the current government land bank is not enough to drive industrialisation at the required speed. The proposal aims to bridge the gap between available land on paper and land that can be offered to investors without new disputes.
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said the administration will not use forced acquisition of farmland. Instead, the government will purchase land to transfer to industrial units, following models used in states such as Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana.
The state is expected to develop both land-purchase and land-pooling policies. There may also be a proposal during the Assembly's winter session to amend the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955, to facilitate land pooling and change rules regarding ceiling-surplus land.