Calcutta, Feb. 21: The government today said plots would be bought at market price for the Dankuni industrial hub and township instead of being acquired under the acquisition act.

The land will then be handed over to DLF, which has paid Rs 55 lakh an acre to the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) for the purchase.

“We have already procured a few acres and expect to finish the process by the end of this year. Land-losers will be given cheques on the day of registration,” urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya said at Writers’ Buildings today.

“A committee has been set up to supervise the procurement so that land-related problems do not hold up the project.”

Land will not be purchased in areas with dense population, religious establishments and educational institutions, the minister added.

The project — a joint venture of the DLF, a Delhi-based construction major, and the CMDA — will come up on 4,840 acres. The site is about 15km from Calcutta and not far from the Singur Tata Motors plant, where the land war had erupted.

The procurement committee has distributed application forms among the Dankuni residents whose land will be bought. The panel has received consent from over 1,500 landowners so far, the minister said.

The displaced will get 30 per cent solarium along with the land price. “Apart from this, the committee might increase the land price by 20 per cent. But the land reforms department’s permission will be needed for that,” Bhattacharya said.

During and after construction, the project will create 4,30,000 jobs, he added.

The township, to come up on 4,069 acres, will have residential buildings, a school, a college, a university and a hospital, besides a host of other facilities. The industrial hub will have light engineering, textile, IT and food-processing units.

DLF has promised plots or flats at nominal rates to land-losers. Those below the poverty line will get them free.

The company will also fund the education of children from BPL families up to Class X and provide admission to an industrial training institute to one member from each family.