The Bengal land and land reforms department has decided to go for “perpetual transfer” of land to the industries department to ensure hassle-free handover to investors.

As per the new process, the land department will give ownership of land to the industries department, which can lease out the plots directly to the investors without going back to the land department for its approval. For this, the industries department will have to pay a certain amount — which will be 150 per cent of the market price — to the land department.

“This would help investors in several ways. They won’t need to run to the land department for approval even after the industries department decides to allot land,” a senior official said.

Earlier, the land department used to lease out land to the industries department, which would in turn give the plot to the investor as an assignee.

The investor would then need to seek the land department’s approval to hold the plots as assignees.

“Often it was found that the investors faced trouble securing bank loans for their projects as they were allotted the plots as assignees. This was a time-consuming process,” said a source.

Sources said some plots, including 900 acres at Goaltore in West Midnapore and 330 acres in Nadia’s Haringhata, have already been transferred to the industries department.