West Bengal’s land and land reforms department has directed officials to create a land bank in Birbhum, with the stated aim of identifying sites suitable for industry and attracting investment to the mineral-rich district, according to a report by Sangbad Pratidin – Bengal.
The directive was issued by Minister of State Dipankar Jana during a meeting with district land officials in Suri. The district magistrate, the District Land and Land Reforms Officer and Block Land and Land Reforms Officers from all 19 blocks attended the meeting.
Officials have been asked to compile detailed information on land that could support industrial activity, including available government land and sites that may be suitable for investors. The proposed land bank is intended to bring this information together so that the administration can assess where industrial projects could be located and how public land might be used.
Jana described Birbhum as a district rich in mineral resources and said efforts were under way to bring several established industrial companies to the area. According to the report, the state government is already in contact with industrial organisations regarding possible investment in Birbhum.
The meeting also addressed the administration of land distributed under patta arrangements. Officials were instructed to provide complete information on how much land had been granted as patta during the past 15 years, the names of the recipients and the people who were eligible but had not yet received land. The department has directed officials to prepare lists containing the names of the relevant beneficiaries and submit them to the district administration.
This makes the proposed land bank more than an inventory of sites for industrial use. It will also require the administration to reconcile government land records with the status of land already distributed to individuals. The supplied report does not specify the total area of land to be included, the number of pending patta beneficiaries or the criteria that will determine whether a parcel is suitable for industry.
The initiative comes as the state government seeks to promote industrial investment and strengthen Birbhum’s economic infrastructure by linking mineral resources, land availability and industrial planning. The report said several companies had invested in the state in recent months, while others had shown interest in investing.
The state’s wider industrial programme is also expected to include the inauguration of a new plant at Haldia Petrochemicals on October 14 and the announcement of a new industrial policy after the Puja period, according to the report. These developments were cited as part of the broader context for the Birbhum meeting.
For the district administration, the immediate task is to produce verified information on government land, industrially usable parcels, past patta distributions and pending beneficiaries. The next stage of the land-bank initiative will depend on the completion and submission of these records to the district administration.
