DLF, W Bengal sign pact for township

Real estate major DLF and West Bengal government today entered into an agreement to build a township and an industrial hub at Dankuni in the Hooghly district.

The project, to be christened Dankuni World Township, would be built on 4,840 acres of land. The public-private partnership (PPP) project would entail an investment of Rs 33,000 crore.

Around 4 lakh people would be employed in the project, which would be completed in the next 15 to 20 years, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said.

Senior officials of Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) and DLF signed the pact.

Of the total project area, 771 acres has been earmarked for industry, Bhattacharjee said.

Textile, food processing and engineering industries would be set up the earmaked industrial area. Around 1,872 acres has been kept for housing, with 35 per cent reserved for high income groups, 40 per cent for middle income groups and 25 per cent has been earmarked for low income groups.

The process for acquiring land at the project site near Durgapur Expressway, NH2 and NH6 would start shortly. The state government would provide water supply and electricity during the construction period.

About 600 families will be evicted from their land in the first phase, in which 1,644 acres of land will be acquired.

The projects to be taken up there will be finished in five years.

"No school, place of worship, burial grounds or cremation grounds will be acquired. And people who will be evicted will be adequately compensated. People who will lose their residences will be rehabilitated near the site of the projects and all help will be rendered to them so that they can eke out a living,'' the chief minister said.

The land would be acquired through consultations with people at the grassroot level and the opposition political parties, Bhattacharjee said.