A landloser holds up an I-card promising preference in recruitment. (Jahangir Badsa)

Haldia, Dec. 4: The Apeejay Group, which is building a 90-acre logistic hub in Haldia, today started distributing photo-identity cards to landlosers promising preference during recruitment.

However, the move, formally launched at a programme attended by the local Trinamul Congress MP, is possibly the company’s bid to pre-empt further roadblocks put up by Mamata Banerjee’s party to a much bigger project it has proposed nearby.

In Geonkhali, about 25km away, where Apeejay wants to build a Rs 2,000-crore shipyard over 550 acres in collaboration with Bharati Shipyard, land acquisition has had to be stopped because of resistance by a Trinamul-led Save Farmland Committee.

The protesters had said they were ready to discuss land deals with the project’s promoters but not to let the government acquire their plots.

“By giving these identity cards, we want to send a message to the villagers of Geonkhali. We want to tell them that we will also give them identity cards so they get priority during recruitment for the proposed shipyard,” said Sourav Daspatnaik, an Apeejay director.

The cards will be provided to 600 families of Chakdipa village who have lost their land to the logistic hub project.

The assistant executive officer of the Haldia Development Authority, P.K. Sardar, said this was the first such initiative for an industrial project in Bengal.

The Apeejay director said about 500 people were expected to get jobs at the hub. “While recruiting these people, we will give priority to the landlosers.”

The authority had acquired the land for the project without any resistance in 2005-’06. Although the takeover was smooth, Daspatnaik said “there was a demand by the landlosers for jobs at the logistic park”. The company will train some of the villagers to ensure they have the skills required for the jobs, he added.

The hub will have godowns, parking space for heavy vehicles, food courts and office space for transport companies among other things. The Apeejay director said it was expected to be ready by February.

Ten landlosers got the I-cards from Trinamul MP Subhendu Adhikari today. One of them, Debabrata Maity, 35, who gave up half an acre in 2005, said: “I was a farmer. But after I gave up my land, I had to take up the job of a day labourer. Now I can hope to find a job at the logistic park.”

Adhikari said Trinamul had been demanding priority for landlosers during recruitment for projects on their land. “I hope other investors will also issue such cards to landlosers,” said Adhikari.