Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced a new Investment Promotion Policy to attract industries through government-supported land banks.
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari unveiled the state's new Investment Promotion Policy on Thursday, promising to create land banks for investors. According to Moneycontrol, the Chief Minister stated the government will avoid both the Left Front's forcible land acquisition and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) approach of letting industries buy land without government support.
Adhikari said the government is making arrangements to buy land to create these banks. He alleged that the TMC's land policy contributed to the failure of industrialisation over the last 15 years and claimed nearly Rs 20,000 crore of state revenue was siphoned off by mafia and anti-nationals during the previous regime.
The new policy aims to attract investment and generate employment by offering incentives, particularly in less-industrialised areas. It provides higher assistance to units in priority sectors and promises fixed timelines for payments and approvals.
A senior official told The Telegraph that under the proposed model, the government would likely buy plots from landowners to transfer to companies. While the government may also assist companies buying land directly, a separate policy regarding compensation and rehabilitation is expected to be released later.
The official noted that the new government intends to make compensation packages more attractive than the previous direct-purchase policy, which offered 1.5 times the market rate. The policy is also expected to include a rehabilitation framework for bargadars, or share-croppers.
