West Bengal faces land crisis

Faced with violent protests over land acquisition for industry in West Bengal, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government has now another problem on hand as a survey has found that very little non-agricultural land is available in the state for industry.

According to the survey, conducted by the Land Reforms Department, only 22,412 acres of vested non-agricultural land is available in the state for industrial and commercial use.

The situation becomes more acute with the report revealing that nearly 50 per cent (10, 831 acre) of this total land is available in North Bengal's hill district of Darjeeling where there is virtually no demand for land to set up industry.

Based on the pending industrial and commercial proposals before the state government, it is estimated that nearly 90,000

acres would be required, mainly in South Bengal, to meet the current demand.

As per the survey, less than 4000 acres is available in the entire South Bengal where the demand for land is very high to set up steel plant, SEZ, chemical hub and other industries.

Interestingly, in East Midnapur district, which witnessed violent protests over farmland acquisition at Nandigram, a mere 19 acres of vested land is available for industry.

The Bhattacharjee government had earlier tried to acquire 10,000 acres at Nandigram to set up a SEZ and chemical hub by Indonesia's Salim group, but abandoned the plan after villagers clashed with police last month in which 14 people were killed.