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The West Bengal Cabinet has approved a policy that will allow under-utilised non-residential plots under the Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Department to be converted for housing or real estate use. The Chief Minister Smt Mamta Banerjee chaired the meeting. The cabinet explained that much of this land was allotted years ago for employee housing but is now left unused. A conversion will require a government-set fee, with detailed implementation guidelines to follow soon. The move follows earlier changes in land policies, including leasehold-to-freehold conversions and a review of land ceiling rules.
The West Bengal Cabinet has decided that idle non-residential plots may now be converted for housing or real estate use. This decision was made at a recent cabinet meeting overseen by the Chief Minister Smt Mamta Banerjee in Kolkata. It applies to land held by agencies under the state's Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Department. The officials noted that many of these plots were originally allotted decades ago often on 99-year lease terms for purposes of employee housing but currently a large portion of this land is kept unused. Advertisement
The new policy will allow owners to apply for conversion, as long as they pay a fee set by the government. Detailed rules on how the policy will work, including the fee structure and required procedures, will be issued soon. Registration, approvals, and implementation steps will follow those guidelines once released.
This decision comes after earlier efforts to simplify land usage in the state. Last year, the government expanded its leasehold-to-freehold policy across departments and local bodies and committed to revisiting land ceiling laws under the Land Reforms Act. Those moves aimed to make it easier for people and businesses to use state land efficiently.
This new policy follows earlier land-related measures by the state. In 2023 and 2024, the government launched a leasehold-to-freehold scheme, allowing plot holders to secure ownership by paying fees. The Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Department also introduced online systems to handle these applications. At the same time, the state reviewed land-ceiling rules that had restricted the size of land holdings. Changes were made to ease these limits so that private developers and investors could take on larger projects.
Officials and experts say that the conversion policy could make more land available in urban centres like Kolkata, Salt Lake, and New Town, where housing demand is high. Once the government publishes the rules and fee structure, agencies and plot holders are expected to start applying for conversion.
Source: PTI
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