Differences between the then land minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah and industrialisation spearheads such as Bhattacharjee and Nirupam Sen were well known.

Veterans said they were not surprised by the turn of events at the land department. “The department tends to sit on such clearance for months, if not years. If industry has to buy land directly, the investor should come fast,” said a bureaucrat.

However, the view was contested by another state official. “It is true that the land department takes time. But the company did not push its case hard either,” he said.

Next week — more than four years after the project was conceived — this procedural matter will be taken up by the department. “It (the company) has to satisfy the concerns raised by the land department within the ambit of existing laws of the state. Once this is done, the next step can be taken. The company will meet the land reforms commissioner on August 10 for this,” Partha Chatterjee, the commerce and industries minister, said after today’s two-and-a-half-hour meeting.

JSW Bengal Steel CEO Biswadip Gupta expressed hope problems would be sorted out after the next meeting. “We bought 294 acres directly from the owners. But the company does not have 14Y clearance required for holding land in excess of the ceiling. We have applied for it. Once that is obtained, lease for the entire 4,334-acre plot can be executed,” he said, adding the company would start groundbreaking after the Pujas and complete the first phase by 2014.

One option before the government is to vest the 294 acres and lease that back to the company so that the ceiling can be skirted.

The Jindals had earlier delayed the project citing financial distress after the global economic crisis in late 2008. A blast by Maoists also stalled the project.

The Jindals then focused on their existing plant at Vijaynagar, scaling up capacity to achieve economy of scale in a bearish market.

The forest department later realised 138 acres belonged to it — something that the land survey missed. The land was taken back last year.

The company received the final government order on land allocation on February 17 this year. Even if the dust on the “14Y” clearance is settled after next week’s meeting, the headache of the company will be far from over.

It now needs to buy 28 acres to build two access roads from the unit to a highway to facilitate the movement of goods. Earlier, the WBIDC had promised to acquire the land. The new hands-off policy does not allow any role by a government agency in land acquisition for private industry.

Gupta said Salboni would be one of the most compact plants in the world in terms of land use. It will build a township within to house engineers and other employees.