80,000 acres in land bank

“There is lot more land still unrecovered. The process is on. Since the state government is not going to acquire land for setting up industries this unused land will be offered to the industrialists,” a senior official at Writers’ Buildings said.

Though the number may seem be huge but it may not be able to be of much use. These lands are scattered and therefore if we want to set up an industry in a single plot of 5,000-acre of land,we won’t be able to do it. But still this will help us a lot in setting up more industries,’’ added the official.

Darjeeling district has the largest chunk of unutilised land — 16,947.93 acres. Bankura comes second with 15,000 acres.

The state government is also coming up with another map on what kind of industries suits the land available with it. ”The classification of land is done by Commerce and Industries Department and it will be compiled very soon,’’ said an official of the department.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,before coming to power,promised that while there would be no forcible acquisition of land and a land bank will be constituted for it. She had instructed the Land and Land Reforms department to finish the work on a war footing. The land reforms commissioner issued at least 20 letters to various departments and the district magistrates to furnish the details of the list of unused land.