According to an estimate by the land department, once the President giver her nod, the state government will be able to establish control over 4.38 lakh acres of land it has leased out to industries so far. Of this, 41,000 acres that are lying idle across the state will be immediately available for the state government to take over.

Tabling the Bill in the House, Land and Land Reforms Minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah said many industrial units, including in tea and jute, are either closed or have stopped operations for the past few years. Such land is located mainly in Kolkata, Howrah, Hoogly, North and South 24-Parganas and some tea gardens in North Bengal, he said.

Land department sources said that years ago, the government had leased out land for industries on both the banks of the Ganga. Jute, heavy engineering, hosiery, foundry and textile industries had been set up mainly on such land. Now, most of these industries have stopped production and suspended businesses because of unavoidable reasons.

“As the market price of land has escalated, most of the owners are not willing to return the land to the government while many others have already used the land for other purposes. Once the Bill is enacted, the government will have no legal problem in taking back the land from them,” said Rezzak Mollah.

The ministers said in many cases, shopping malls and housing units are being built and other business carried out without the government’s permission.

“We will offer them to settle the deal with a one-time payment of 95 per cent of the current market price of land that the owners are using otherwise,” said Mollah.