Announcing this at his office at Writers’ Buildings, Minister for Urban Development Ashok Bhattacharya said that a procurement committee comprising people’s representatives and government officials has been formed for this purpose and consent letters have been distributed among the residents there.

“We are not going in for acquisition of land. We will buy the entire land. Already about 2,000 people have given their consent for selling their land. We hope we will be able to persuade the remaining to sell their land for the project which will change the social and economic demography of the area,” he said.

The minister, who is hopeful that he will not face any opposition, said that besides paying them the market price, the landowners would also be given an additional 30 per cent as compensation. The township will have a community centre and a 10-bed dispensary, among other things.

The plan also includes setting up of an industrial park on 700 acres of the land in which industries like light engineering, food processing, textiles and IT will be established.

“Recently, I held three meetings with the landowners there and found that there was a tremendous response for the project. A misinformation campaign, however, is going on and people are being told that the government will forcibly take their land, which is entirely wrong,” Bhattacharya said.