Kolkata, Nov 19 (IANS) West Bengal could have avoided the present land problem it was facing in setting up industries if only it had purchased land in the 1950s and 1960s like Gujarat, a top bureaucrat said Wednesday. “The Gujarat government had purchased land for industries beside the highways way back in the 1950s and 60s. Had we then invested for buying land, now things would have been easier,” West Bengal Industry Secretary Sabyasachi Sen said here.

Continuing on the land problem, that forced Tata Motors to shift its Nano small car plant out of the state, Sen told newspersons that extra efforts would have to be made to convince landowners of the benefits that would accrue to them if they part with their lands.

“The landowners are not sure about the proper price of their land. There is a genuine anxiety on how they will benefit from the project. We have to be definite and more specific when we try to convince them of the benefits,” Sen said.

Talking about the Halida port, which has a problem of siltation, Sen said it would be overcome by next month through dredging.