Business Standard reported that the West Bengal government has earmarked 30,000 acres for industrial projects but even as it faces one of the most violent battles for land rights, figures for displacement or project affected persons are yet to be aggregated.

Mr Nirupam Sen and land & land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah said that the figures are yet to be collated. West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation sources said land losers would only be known once the projects are awarded.

Mr Sen said that “We are only acquiring land for important and big projects. Most of the companies had opted for direct purchase.”

Mr Mollah also said that “The figures would have to be collected from different collectors in the districts.”

Even the Non Government Organizations and activists that lent their voices to the land rights battle do not have figures.

Of the projects in the pipeline, iron and steel has the lion’s share. Apart from expansion of existing projects, there are 10 proposed steel plants in the private sector involving an investment of INR 109550 crore. The capacity to be created is 28 million tonnes and the land requirement pegged at 23590 acres.

A number of special economic zones are also in the pipeline. Since 2006, there are 14 in-principle SEZs and another 14 have been formally approved. However, multi-product SEZs are only three totaling 8,000 acres.

(Sourced from Business Standard)