Cash-strapped? Bengal govt to sell lands without condition to raise funds

KOLKATA:  In a bid to maximise revenue generation, the Bengal government has decided to allow its departments to sell land parcels under their possession, without any condition. The blanket permission to sell lands under their possession is said to be unprecedented because traditionally, the government had directly leased out government land to private companies or individuals since Independence.

In certain cases, the government did sell land but that was limited to a handful plots with a particular purpose. “This will be the first time that the state government will go for monetisation of land without any particular purpose or condition. Previously, in certain cases the government sold land but that was limited to a handful of plots with particular purpose,” said an official of the land and revenue department.

A source at Nabanna said that the state secretariat, the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority has already started the process of selling lands at Golf Green and Kasba after the instruction was given. “Now if our department is allowed, more plots will be sold out,” said an official.

However, a section of bureaucrats found leasing land for commercial purposes was always a better option as compared to selling the lands as the government can have control over the commercial projects.
“If the projects are not completed on time or changed midway, the government can take back the land. With the new decision, the state government will have no control on the projects,” said a senior official of the state government.

Another section of officials raised questions on the merit of the decision. An  official said there are two sources from which the government can get lands. “One of them is additional lands above the ceiling, which gets vested with the government for distribution among the landless. The other way is through acquisition for a particular purpose like constructing roads and bridges,” he said.