West Bengal may buy land directly for industrial investors
The state government plans to purchase plots from landowners to provide contiguous land parcels to companies, according to a report by Urban Acres.
The West Bengal government is preparing to take an active role in securing land for industrial investors by likely buying plots directly from landowners to transfer to companies, according to a report by Urban Acres citing The Telegraph.
The proposed policy marks a departure from the previous government's approach of asking investors to purchase land directly from farmers. Under the new model, the government would purchase land and make parcels available to investors, while also assisting companies that wish to buy land directly.
A senior official told The Telegraph that the new policy is expected to include a more generous compensation package for landowners than the previous direct-purchase policy, which offered 1.5 times the market rate. The policy is also expected to include a separate rehabilitation framework for bargadars, or share-croppers.
The move aims to address barriers to industrial investment, specifically the difficulty of obtaining contiguous land without the political and social conflict associated with compulsory acquisition. This issue has been sensitive in the state since the Singur and Nandigram movements.
One official cautioned that the direct-purchase route does not guarantee that owners will agree to sell, which could make assembling contiguous land difficult. The official added that the government has not abandoned land pooling, though that option would take longer to implement.
The state's industrial incentive policy is expected to be announced on November 5, while a separate land policy detailing compensation and rehabilitation is expected to be released later.