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The West Bengal government on Monday set up a two-member expert committee to formulate a new land policy. Ruling out any forcible acquisition of land, the Chief Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, said the committee will focus of preparing a “transparent policy” and find ways to re-use land lying with government departments and utilities.
“We are forming a committee for formulating a new land policy as there is a lot of confusion over the existing policy,” Ms Banerjee told reporters at the Writers' Building.
According to the Chief Minister, government departments and public utilities have been asked to submit details of land that are lying unused with them. The data available will be collated to form a land bank. “We will also have a land use map of our own. I have instructed the department to start work in this regard,” she said.
The two-member committee will include Mr Debabrata Bandopadhyay – the man behind ‘Operation Barga' during the Left rule when land was distributed to the landless – and Mr Soumendranath Bose, a lawyer.
Land acquisition, especially acquisition of farmland for industrial purposes, has became a major issue in Bengal in the recent times especially since 2006 when the now abandoned Tata Nano project was proposed to be set up in Singur.
LAND BANK
Officials of the State Land and Land Reforms department, meanwhile, pointed out that work on creating a land bank has already begun. Letters have been sent to various district magistrates and other senior officials regarding the availability of land in all 19 districts of the state.
The district magistrates are expected to submit their reports by June 30 this year, officials said.
LAND USE MAP
Currently, the department has prepared land use maps for five districts that include the districts of Burdwan, Bankura, West Midnapore, Purulia and Birbhum.
Work on seven other districts of the Presidency Range that include South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, East Midnapore, Howrah, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas, will be completed by this fiscal.
Work on the North Bengal range, that includes districts of Cooch Behar, Malda, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling are expected to be completed by 2012.
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