Bengal land woes miff Videocon, mulls shifting of projects

Land acquisition woes seem to be far from over for industries setting up projects in West Bengal.

The Videocon group has urged the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government to facilitate the acquisition process for speedy implementation of its Rs 20,000-crore steel and power plants in Burdwan district.

Faced by acquisition hurdles, the business conglomerate today said it was looking at relocating the projects within West Bengal.

Videocon had signed a memorandum of understanding with the previous Left Front government in October 2007 for setting up a three-million-tonne integrated steel plant and a 1,200-megawatt power plant.

“We want the state government to facilitate the land acquisition process for speedy implementation of the project. The state should play a mediator’s role, so it benefits farmers and industrialists. We are unable to go ahead with the project due to land acquisition issues,” said Anirudh Dhoot, director, Videocon Industries. The company has so far acquired close to 100 acres at Jamuria.

According to him, if the government does not intervene some groups holding the land increase prices by 25 to 50 per cent, which may not be viable for investors. The group’s demand is significant, as the state government came out with its land policy draft that stated that the state government will not acquire land for projects other than for public purpose.

It also said there would be no special economic zones in the state, while for all projects other than public purpose direct purchase by investors was a must.

The group has also decided to pare down its requirement from 3,200 acres to nearly 2,000 acres.

“For shifting the location, we have appointed consultancy major PricewaterhouseCoppers and they will come up with a report, on whether to shift the project or to start the first unit on the same place, within 90 days. We are scouting for some locations, too. The land requirement will be less because of the advanced technologies we have,” he said.

But he clarified wherever the project is in West Bengal, the company would need help from the government and the firm had no plans to review investments or move out of the state as of now.

Meanwhile, the company said its proposed 2,500-acre biotech special economic zone project at Dabgram in north Bengal was on track.