West Bengal’s Land and Land Reforms Department has begun compiling a land bank for Birbhum after Minister of State Dipankar Jana directed district officials to identify land suitable for industry and record the status of land distributed under pattas, according to a report by Sangbad Pratidin – Bengal.
The direction was issued during a meeting in Suri with officials from the district land department. The district magistrate, the District Land and Land Reforms Officer and Block Land and Land Reforms Officers from all 19 blocks attended the meeting, the report said.
Jana asked officials to prepare a detailed record of land distributed under pattas over the past 15 years. The exercise is to include the location of the land, the names of the beneficiaries and details of people who are considered eligible but have not yet received pattas. Officials were instructed to prepare lists with the names of the concerned people and submit them to the district administration.
The minister said Birbhum was rich in mineral resources and described it as a district with significant industrial potential. The proposed land bank is intended to establish where government land is available, which parcels may be suitable for industrial use and how they could be brought into productive use, the report said.
The move links two separate administrative tasks that often determine whether industrial proposals can move beyond announcements: maintaining accurate records of land rights and identifying parcels that can be offered for investment. The district-level exercise will therefore require officials to reconcile patta records, beneficiary information and the current availability of government land before any industrial allocation can be considered.
According to the report, the state government is already in contact with several industrial companies and is attempting to attract recognised firms to Birbhum. It did not identify the companies involved, disclose the size or location of any proposed industrial sites, or provide investment figures or employment estimates.
The report also placed the Birbhum initiative within a wider state effort to attract investment. It said several companies had invested in West Bengal in recent months, while others had expressed interest in setting up operations in the state. It further reported that the chief minister is scheduled to inaugurate a new plant of Haldia Petrochemicals on the 14th and announce a new industrial policy after the Puja period.
For Birbhum, the immediate administrative milestone is the preparation and submission of the land records and land-availability information. The source report did not provide a deadline for completing the land bank, identify specific industrial projects for the district or state when the first parcels could be offered to companies.
