Bengal govt settles pending land issue with ICVT

West Bengal government today went for an out-of-court settlement in a long-pending land issue with the Indian Craft Village Trust (ICVT).
Following a meeting between ICVT Managing Trustee Rajiv Gujral and state Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim and Finance and Industry Minister Amit Mitra at state secretariat 'Nabanna' today, ICVT and the state government agreed to settle the issue out of court.
"Following this settlement, there will be an exchange of 18.11-acres of land under the possession of ICVT with a new seven-acre plot of land in New Town," Hakim said.
"With this, the 20-year-long stalemate over the land, which went up to Supreme Court, has come to an end after successful persuasion by the Mamata Banerjee government," he added.

The 18.11-acre plot near Milan Mela (Festival Ground) on EM Bypass was allotted to ICVT under the Left Front government led by Jyoti Basu.
Later, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government expressed a desire to take it back and use it for a government project. However, ICVT refused to return the plot and went to court, Hakim said.
Now, on this new piece of land in New Town, ICVT will develop a crafts village.