State introduces window for online application of land ceiling

Kolkata: The state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs (UD & MA) department has made provisions for online urban land ceiling clearance.

A web portal dedicated towards this was inaugurated by the UD&MA minister Firhad Hakim on Thursday.

"Clearance for urban land ceiling often takes a long time as various verifications need to be done while issuing the clearance. In some cases, files related to the same have also been misplaced. From now, the person who has applied for such clearance in online mode will be able to track the status and will also know the reason for delay in the matter. They do not need to approach the department for knowing the status of his/her application," Hakim said.

The Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act 1976 was enacted by Parliament with a view to prevent concentration of urban land in the hands of a few, and to prevent speculation and profiteering and also for the purpose of bringing in a regime of equitable distribution of land in urban agglomeration.

Hakim said: "Middlemen have been active in this area since the Left Front rule in the state. We have taken measures and have arrested some of them but have not been able to stop their intervention completely. This web portal will be able to curb their involvement and bring transparency in the process."

Hakim alleged that some states have lifted the urban land ceiling to offer an advantage to industrialists but for equitable distribution of land in the urban agglomeration, the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act 1976 is very much in existence in Bengal.

Principal Secretary of UD&MA department Khalil Ahmed and other senior officials were present at the inauguration at Nagarayan in Salt Lake.