Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday said preliminary talks are under way with Ashok Leyland for setting up a heavy vehicle manufacturing unit in Singur, as he unveiled the state's new investment promotion policy in New Town.

Source: TradingView (Moody's wire)

"We will certainly do something in Singur. We have held preliminary talks with a reputed commercial heavy vehicle manufacturer, Ashok Leyland," Adhikari said, according to reports of the policy launch.

Adhikari said the government would not use force to acquire land or involve the police in compulsory acquisition. Instead, the state will purchase land itself, and discussions are under way with HUDCO, NABARD and the Asian Development Bank for funds to buy land for industrial use.

Source: UrbanAcres

A land bank, not acquisition

Under the new framework, the government will buy land directly from landowners and pool it into a centralised land bank, from which plots will be allocated to incoming industrial projects. The policy also draws on land in existing industrial parks and on encroached land recovered by the state. Adhikari said land had already been handed over to 33 business groups in the first six months of his government.

Source: Nation Press

Singur remains one of Bengal's most politically sensitive sites: the Tata Nano plant planned there was abandoned after a mass movement against land acquisition, and land has remained the central obstacle to big industry in the state since. The 34-page investment promotion policy, issued in three languages, does not contain a specific section on land, leaving the purchase mechanism to be worked out through later government action.

The talks with Ashok Leyland are at a preliminary stage and no agreement has been announced. The government's stated next steps are to continue the Singur discussions, examine land-pooling and purchase models, and pursue funding conversations with HUDCO, NABARD and the Asian Development Bank.