The land and land reforms (L & LR) department will take the help of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to put pressure on various departments of the state government that had taken land from it for various projects but failed to pay compensation. The department will ask them to pay the money at the earliest. On Wednesday, Minister for L & LR Abdur Rezzaq Mollah will discuss this issue at a meeting of his senior officials including Land Reforms Commissioner Balbir Ram. While PWD leads the list of defaulters, other departments which have not paid the compensation include power, irrigation and water works, agriculture, to name a few. As the L & LR department is not getting the money they in turn cannot pay the farmers from whom land has been acquired.Another issue that has become a bone of contention between the L & LR department and the commerce and industries department is sub-leasing of plots to industrialists.According to an official of the L & LR department, the WBDIC is procuring land from the department for setting up of industrial parks and later sub-leasing it to industrialists. The question that has arisen is whether WBIDC has the right to sub-lease land. Mollah, however, refused to comment on the agenda of the board meeting and said, “I have called the meeting to find ways on how to deal with the new approach on industrialisation.”
