The West Bengal government is considering land pooling and expansion of industrial parks to make larger parcels of land available for industrial projects while reducing the need for direct government acquisition of private land.
The proposal is being examined in the context of fragmented land holdings and the political sensitivity surrounding land acquisition in the state. The government is looking for approaches that can help industries secure contiguous parcels while reducing direct negotiations between the state and individual landowners.
Subrata Gupta, adviser to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, said land pooling is among the options being evaluated along with greater emphasis on industrial parks. The objective is to facilitate access to larger land parcels required by industries while addressing the challenges created by fragmented ownership.
Under a land pooling model, several privately owned parcels can be brought together for planned development rather than being acquired outright. Landowners may receive developed plots or other benefits in return for contributing their land. The model has previously been used in Andhra Pradesh for the development of Amaravati, where around 33,000 acres were pooled from nearly 29,000 farmers.
West Bengal is also examining industrial parks as an alternative approach to land aggregation. Under this model, private developers could assemble land and provide ready-to-use industrial plots with common infrastructure. This could help companies requiring large, contiguous areas establish manufacturing and other industrial facilities.
Gupta indicated that introducing a land pooling framework in West Bengal would require new legislation. The state is also reviewing existing land laws related to ownership and land utilisation.
The government is assessing whether current restrictions on land holding and utilisation could create difficulties for large industrial investments. Gupta noted that industries are not covered by urban land ceiling provisions but said changes to land laws may be required to allow large companies to hold and use the land needed for their operations.
The state is also examining land belonging to closed industrial units as a potential source of land for future industrial development. Reusing such land could provide another route for making industrial parcels available without relying solely on fresh acquisition.
Another issue under review is the legal position of bargadars, or sharecroppers, who may retain rights over land even when they are no longer actively cultivating it. The government is assessing the implications of these rights as it reviews its land policy.
The proposed measures are aimed at addressing one of the challenges faced by industrial investors in West Bengal: securing sufficiently large and contiguous land parcels. By combining land pooling, industrial parks, redevelopment of closed industrial sites and changes to land laws, the state is exploring multiple approaches to facilitate industrial land availability.
Any formal land pooling framework, however, will depend on legislative changes and the outcome of the state’s review of existing land ownership and utilisation laws.
