60,000 crore, 62,000 jobs, one deadline: Bengal's new land push comes with a 2029 ultimatum

The West Bengal government on Wednesday handed over land to 33 industrial units on Wednesday at Milan Mela, in a push that Minister Tapas Roy says will bring in nearly ₹60,000 crore of investment and generate around 62,000 jobs. The event, originally planned for Baj Baj on the 26th, was moved up after industry bodies flagged that Pitru Paksha begins that day.

Land has gone to units across semiconductors, defence and ammunition, solar energy, electric vehicles, pharmaceuticals, steel, food processing, textiles, engineering and MSMEs, spread across WBIDC and WBIIDC parks in Salt Lake, Falta, Ankurhati, Uluberia, Naihati, Kalyani, Haringhata, Kharagpur, Panagarh, Raghunathpur and Cooch Behar, among others.

Chief Secretary Manoj Agarwal said the allotments came with strict conditions attached. "The focus was not on who is being given the land, but on who will be able to complete their project within three years of receiving the land, by 2029," he said, adding that this timeline has been written into the handover agreements themselves. He pointed to past cases where big-ticket announcements never translated into actual construction, leaving land lying idle, and said the government wanted to guard against a repeat. "West Bengal is the land of investment," he said, noting interest from both domestic and foreign industrialists.

Industries Minister Tapas Roy called it a day worth remembering. "Even many years from now, the people of West Bengal will remember this day," he said, describing the land handover as the foundation of a self-reliant Bengal. Roy said the government, not yet 150 days old, had brought about more than a political change. "There was never a shortage of land for setting up industries in West Bengal. What was lacking was sincerity and the right approach," he said, adding that small and medium industries mattered as much as big investors, and that industrialisation must extend into Rarh Bengal. He set December 31, 2029 as the deadline for projects to be completed, so the Chief Minister could inaugurate them rather than the state having to reclaim the land.

The sharpest remarks came from Suvendu Adhikari, who blamed the CPI(M) for undoing the industrial groundwork laid by Bidhan Chandra Roy, and accused Mamata Banerjee of driving the Tatas out of Singur through what he called negative politics. He said the state was now buying land directly for industry without police involvement, backed by a "double-engine government," and claimed extortion had stopped since May 9. A toll-free number, 155-335, has been set up for industrialists to report threats or extortion attempts.

Adhikari also said a ₹5,000-crore incentive fund had been created, with support tied to employment generation rather than investment size, and that the state's industrial policy would be announced before Durga Puja. He referred to a pending DRDO proposal for a missile-launching station at Junput, an Ambani group visit planned for next week, a foundation stone to be laid for a 1,000-bed Adani hospital, and an agreement under the Centre's UDAN scheme covering five airports, including Kalaikunda, Balurghat and Purulia.