Availability of land for industry is not an issue in West Bengal, State Finance, Commerce and Industry Minister Amit Mitra said here on Wednesday. Mitra was speaking at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) National Executive Committee Meeting.

“I see a lot of reports on how getting land is a problem here. But no one mentions that we have 4,400 acres of land with us across the various industrial parks,” he told businessmen and industry captains during the meeting.

Interestingly, availability of land and co-operation with the Centre seemed to feature high on the questions raised by FICCI members. Suggestions includes making available land locked with closed industrial units; asking the State take an initiative to list land parcels that is available with them; and also have an e-commerce site that would allow people to sale and buy land parcels.

Justifying the government’s hands-off approach in terms of land acquisition, Mitra said other States were now toeing a similar line. According to him, approximately 1,00,000 acres are lying with different departments of the State government and these can be utilised by the industry.

“There are many such land parcels lying with different departments, which they may not utilise. We are looking at ways in which they can be used by us (the industry department),” he said.

Mitra added that the State government was trying to free up land locked with closed industries and factories. He urged FICCI to set up a committee to look into the matter and help the State reach a consensus in this regard.

Support for GST Pointing out that the State was willing to side with the Centre, Mitra said West Bengal and the Trinamool Congress were amongst the first to support the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill.

However, support is based on the rider – the State’s revenues should not be impacted.

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