Bengal Mulls Changes to Urban Land Ceiling Act to Boost Investment

Bengal govt mulls amendments to Urban Land Ceiling Act to spur private investment

Kolkata, July 13

The Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 (ULCRA) historically capped private vacant landholdings beyond a certain threshold in the prime cities and towns in West Bengal, namely the state capital, Kolkata, and major urban townships like Asansol and Durgapur in mineral-rich West Burdwan district.

While the said Act was intended to prevent land speculation, in reality, it became a major hurdle to infrastructure and industrial investments in the state.

According to sources in the state secretariat, a preliminary review of the Act is already underway to identify provisions that could be amended to remove obstacles to industrial and infrastructure investments while retaining safeguards against land speculation.

The sources indicated that although sections of the industry favour a complete repeal of the law, the government is more likely to pursue targeted amendments following a detailed assessment.

Speaking to IANS after presenting the state Budget for 2026-27, Swapan Dasgupta, the state's Finance Minister, said that reforming land-related regulations and reviewing the ULCRA were among the government's key priorities for attracting major private investments. He described the Act as outdated and said certain provisions that hinder investment may require amendment or removal.

He also said that the Act, in its present form, was quite archaic and a relic of the old socialist days and hence needed amendments and even scrapping of certain provisions that create bottlenecks for infrastructural and industrial investments.

Meanwhile, the economic and industrial observers have welcomed the new land policy of the new state government, which is diametrically opposite to the land policy pursued by the previous Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress regime.

The previous regime totally negated any state government role in land procurement for any purpose, be it industrial projects or infrastructural development or even for purposes involving national security like land for the Border Security Force (BSF) for erecting barbed fencing at international borders with Bangladesh.

However, the new state government under Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had announced a uniform land procurement policy, where the state government will go for "direct land purchase" from land owners and then hand over the same land for the purpose it was purchased.

Industry observers say the proposed review of the ULCRA, coupled with the new land procurement policy, could improve the investment climate by reducing regulatory and procedural hurdles associated with land availability for large projects.

They also feel that the new state government's "direct land purchase" policy will remove those bottlenecks for both industrial and infrastructural development.

— IANS