The state cabinet on Monday gave its nod to set up a group of ministers (GoM) to monitor the Bengal government’s plan of selling off vacant and unused land owned by various departments as part of a larger strategy to mobilise resources.

With this, sources in the state administration said the state government has actually fast-tracked the process of monetising the unused land parcels that it owns. Though the policy was drafted earlier this year, not much progress was noticed since then. The GoM will add urgency to the policy, sources said.

“The cabinet approved the proposal to set up a GoM to look after monetising of government land. The GoM will be set up and notified soon,” said a minister who was present in the cabinet meeting at Nabanna on Monday.

Sources said that the government had earlier decided that all the unused vested land in possession of various departments will be auctioned to generate more revenue in January this year. After that, the finance department issued a guideline on how land parcels owned by the departments could be sold.

It had been proposed that the departments would send a list of possible plots which could be sold off and a committee of secretaries headed by the chief secretary would finalise the plots that could be monetised from the list.

“Now, a GoM will monitor the process and report directly to the chief minister. This is why it is considered that the process will be expedited. The chief secretary will also send a report to the chief minister. But the primary decision of monetising the plots will be taken by the GoM and the final call by the chief minister,” said a source.

According to some bureaucrats, the state government is eager to generate additional revenue in the next few months as it has plans to take up larger projects like the construction of 11.36 lakh rural dwelling units in the state and 100 days’ job scheme for about 1 crore job card holders in Bengal with its own resources as funds from Delhi under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and MGNREGS do not show signs of coming.

“The state wants to take the responsibility of these huge schemes on its shoulders ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. But rolling out these schemes will require at least Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 crore. It is almost impossible for the state to fund the projects alone until additional revenues are generated,” said a bureaucrat.

Senior bureaucrats said the state may not be able to generate such a huge sum by selling off the government plots immediately as it is a lengthy process. Moreover, the government cannot sell all commercially sought-after plots as many are encroached upon.

“According to a report on the government’s land bank, the state has about 2.5 lakh acres but more than 50 per cent have been encroached upon. This is a problem the state is set to face in its effort to generate revenue by selling off its land,” said an official.

The cabinet on Monday tried to address the encroachment problem too. The GoM will find out why encroachment could not be removed from prime government plots and suggest ways to resolve the problem, sources said.

“The encroached plots are prime plots. Demand for them is huge. If the plots can be made free from encumbrances by relocating the encroachers, the government can generate more revenue,” said a source.

New districts

The state cabinet on Monday approved another GoM to send a report on setting up seven new districts in Bengal. The state government had earlier proposed seven districts — Bishnupur, Behrampore, Kandi, Sunderbans, Ranaghat, Ichhamati and Basirhat — to be carved out of Bankura, Murshidabad, Nadia, South and North 24-Parganas. But the process did not progress much. The GoM will look after all the related issues and submit a report to the chief minister in this regard.