Land ceiling hurdle cleared for Jindals
In its desperate bid to prove that land is not an issue for setting up industries in the state, the Mamata Banerjee-government has resolved the land issue for several industrial projects including the proposed steel plant of the JSW Bengal Steel at Salboni and a project of the Patton Group. The state government, however, made it clear that it would give specific time limit for the investors, which may vary case to case, to set up their projects otherwise the land would be taken back.
“We have resolved land-related issues for few projects today to allay the fears of the investors that land is a major problem for setting up industries here. At the same time, the state government will not allow utilisation of the land earmarked for industry for any other purpose and no industrial unit can hold land excessive to its requirement,” state commerce and industries minister Partha Chatterjee announced.
The state Cabinet standing committee on industry and infrastructure chaired by the chief minister met on Tuesday and resolved nine cases of land-related problems for various industrial units. “We have decided to give an exemption under section 14Y of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act to the JSW Bengal Steel so that they can hold land excess to the ceiling. We will give the excess land to the company on lease and will charge a transaction fee of two per cent while leasing out the land. In addition, we will give a definite time frame to them to complete the project, failing which we will take back the land. The company will have to include its CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities, offering shares to the landlosers and jobs for the project-affected people in the draft of the final agreement with the state government,” Mr Chatterjee elaborated.
The JSW Bengal Steel needs 4,334 acres land for the 10-million tonne steel project of which the state government has given 3,851 acres. The West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation has provided 189 acres, while the company has directly purchased 294 acres. “We have sought exemption under section 14Y for 270 acres that the government has already vested from the 294 acres that we directly purchased,” JSW Bengal Steel CEO and joint managing director Biswadip Gupta informed.
Meanwhile, Mr Chatterjee revealed that officials of TVS Motors would be coming on November 5 to talk to the state government regarding the company’s plan to set up their bike unit at Uluberia in Howrah.
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