The Mamata Banerjee government has initiated action against at least seven land and land reforms department officials for changing |the character of industrial plots that allowed real estate development on plots leased out at concessional terms for industry.

Sources said the officials were posted in districts like Jalpaiguri, West Burdwan, North 24Parganas, West Midnapore and Jhargram. “All the officers were showcaused after the charges were found to be true,” said a senior official.

The Bengal government had leased out thousands of acres for setting up industries, tea estates and workshops under section 6 (3) of the West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act, 1953, in the past six decades.

“Recently, there were complaints that a section of land department officials were helping change the character of the plots, which allowed the leaseholders to build commercial or residential buildings. The complaints were very serious as such wrongdoings were shrinking the quantum of land available for industry. The government was kept in the dark,” said a Nabanna official.

Though the department is yet to ascertain the quantum of industrial land whose character was changed illegally, preliminary investigations suggest at least 50 acres may have been affected, sources said.

The sources said the chief minister had recently asked department officials to ensure that no government land was transferred to any individual. This followed complaints she had received during her visits to various districts.

“A section of the officials used to change the character of industrial plots on government record kept in block offices so that the leaseholders could develop the plots for commercial or residential purpose… Preliminary investigations revealed that the officials were hand in glove with the leaseholders as large housing complexes had come up on some of the plots,” said an official.

Using industrial plots for other purposes is possible but it requires cabinet approval. For example, the Left government had allowed Hindustan Motors and Bata to sell off a portion of their land in Uttarpara and Batanagar, respectively, for revival of industries.

The department has now taken some steps to avoid such malpractices. “Block officials cannot tamper with land records anymore. This is possible as the land records have been digitised and any change in the record has to be done on the digitised record. Changing character of a government plot can be done only after an officer in the rank of additional district magistrate clears the proposal,” said a source.

While appreciating the move by the department to check the practice, a section of the officials raised questions whether the government would try to rectify previous faults that led to change of character of several industrial plots along the B.T. Road and Howrah.

“Several housing complexes were set up on industrial plots in these two areas… We suspect that characters of the plots were changed illegally. It would be interesting to see whether the state government conducts an inquiry into the deals,” said a source.

Another issue that might come in the way of state government’s clean up drive as many in the department feel that such deals cannot be done without political patronage.

“Question is whether the political leaders involved in the deals would be identified and face proper actions,” said another official.