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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | West Bengal finalizes new land policy by Romita Datta

West Bengal finalizes new land policy by Romita Datta

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published Published on Sep 15, 2011   modified Modified on Sep 15, 2011

West Bengal on Wednesday finalized a new land policy under which it will seize industrial land not used for five years.

If the land had been acquired from farmers, the government will redistribute it among original owners, the new policy says, expanding the scope for returning farm land taken over for industrial use.

Though cleared by the state cabinet on Wednesday, the new land policy wasn’t formally announced in view of two by-lections to the state assembly to be held this month.

The government had initiated the process of returning 296 acres to Singur’s farmers who protested the 2006 land acquisition for Tata Motors Ltd’s small car factory. But its attempt to return land at Singur has been legally blocked by the car maker.

With the new land policy, the state government has created the possibility of returning land to many more farmers. The provision for seizure of land is not restricted to tracts leased out by the state. Even companies buying land on their own in excess of the threshold set in the land ceiling laws will have to execute projects within three years. If they don’t, the state government can withdraw the exemption granted to buy land, and seize land held in excess of the threshold of 24 acres.

“If the nature and character of land has changed, original owners would be given cash compensation over and above the land that belonged to them,” a land department official involved with the drafting of the new policy said, requesting anonymity.

The state government has also created a limited provision to acquire land for so-called public purposes such as building civic infrastructure, but the policy precludes transfer of acquired land to any private party. Land can be acquired only on condition that the state government “owns, holds and controls” the property seized from private individuals, and uses it for “public purposes”, said the state government official cited above.

It appears there would be hardly any scope for public-private partnership for infrastructure development, said one of Kolkata’s leading real estate developers, asking not to be named. “It seems the state government doesn’t want any private entity to profit from state-acquired land; if we couldn’t make money, where is the scope for joint development?” he asked.

The new policy says West Bengal will follow the Union government’s formula for resettlement and rehabilitation of displaced people, scrapping the erstwhile Left Front government’s compensation package, which was a combination of cash, annuity and developed land.

The state government is preparing a separate compensation package for sharecroppers and farm workers.

Live Mint, 15 September, 2011, http://www.livemint.com/2011/09/14215442/West-Bengal-finalizes-new-land.html?atype=tp


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