Calcutta, April 16: With the rural polls only a year away and his image in not so good a shape, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is planning a drive to distribute tilling rights to the landless and lay foundation stones for village projects across the state.

Officials said the chief minister had recently expressed interest in a drive to distribute pattas — deeds that give a landless farmer the right to till a piece of government land.

The land and land reforms department is now drawing up an itinerary for the chief minister. The distribution of deeds will begin from the first week of May, after land reforms commissioner P.K Agarwal returns from leave, an official said.

Officials said the exercise is aimed at countering the negative publicity the government had got because of Nandigram, where a police bid to reclaim areas cut off by villagers led to 14 deaths last month.

The patta is one of the tools that the Left Front government had used extensively after coming to power to usher in land reforms. The renewed drive, it believes, will help ease acquisition fears across the state.

In February, the chief minister had distributed 5,000 pattas at Heria — not far from Nandigram — after six people were killed in clashes over land acquisition in the block.

The government now wants to give pattas for around 82,000 acres.

The chief minister will also tour the districts to lay foundation stones or launch water distribution plants and other schemes.

Power department officials said power sub-stations are in the pipeline in at least six districts. Other departmental secretaries have also been asked to prepare a list of projects that the chief minister might launch.