Bengal may keep hands off industry land

The West Bengal government may consider asking companies to directly purchase land for all industrial projects, including the Salim group's proposed SEZ.

The government has already asked the Jindals to acquire land for their Salboni project directly. "The option is open for all industrial projects, including the Salim group project," said Sabyasachi Sen, principal secretary, commerce and industry department.

"However, whatever be the acquisition process, the ownership has to be somehow vested with the state government through a lease agreement," said Sen.

The outer limit for the land acquisition process for the Salim project is 15 years. The state government is thinking of making available at least 40 per cent of the area as a first step to locate the processing industries.

Officials say the chemical hub may include an SEZ area and a non-SEZ area since some investors may not want to work within the SEZ laws.

The state government had written to the Centre to bring down the minimum land required for SEZs to 1,000 acres from 2,500 acres saying it would be difficult to find such large tracts of land.

Sen said the Salim group did not have any objection to the relocation of the project and wanted to start work soon. The group's chemical hub and multi-product SEZ has got approval in principle from the Centre.

The project may come up for review in August, when the approval of the project completes one year. Sen said the Salim group had already prepared a design of the Raichak-Kukrahati Expressway, which was scheduled to be completed in three years.

"The Salim group has already sought the approval for rail overbridges over different sections,"he said.

The state government has also sought a status report from the Salim group on commencement of the construction of the Mahabharat Motors factory, which would produce motorbikes.

"The delay happened because we were looking for technical partners," Mukherjee informed the government.