Calcutta, July 6: Bengal land and land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah today said the CPM’s peasant front, the Krishak Sabha, would conduct a parallel survey of agricultural land to collate information on crop pattern and the total area under cultivation.

Mollah is the vice-president of the Krishak Sabha. The state government had earlier announced a similar survey by the land and land reforms and agriculture department.

The objective behind the parallel survey, Mollah said, is to find out if there are discrepancies in the government study that need to be corrected.

“The aim of both surveys is to find out how much land is under cultivation and the crop pattern there. This will help us decide on areas where clusters for potential investors can be created for setting up industry or townships. The results of the Krishak Sabha’s parallel survey will be compared with that of the government study. If there are major deviations, we’ll investigate,” said Mollah.

Officials said the move was to ensure that the Krishak Sabha could keep an eye on industrialisation and intervene wherever necessary.

The Krishak Sabha was engaged in to placate farmers at Singur in Hooghly after several of them objected to giving up land for Tata Motors’ small car factory. Mollah’s department will have to complete acquisition of 40,000 acres for industrial projects over the next six months.

The government will also create clusters with infrastructure facilities along major roads and highways where industries or townships might come up.