The model is expected to set a benchmark for all industrial projects in the state. “We shall advise all entrepreneurs to follow this model in future,” Bhattacharjee said.

Under this new model:

• Each landloser will get half the land-value in cash, while the rest will be deposited with the District Magistrate with interest going to the landloser.

• The landloser can withdraw the interest accrued to his account at periodic intervals. Land price will be decided after the administration holds final talks with the villagers.

• Over and above the compensation for land, each landloser will get shares in the company, JSW Bengal Steel Ltd, equal in value to the full price of the land acquired.

• One member of each of the 741 land-owning family set to lose their land will also get a job.

The Rs 35,000-crore project will require a total of 4525 acres of which 3198 acres is already with the state land department and 877 acres with the animal husbandry department. The Jindals will have to buy only 450 acres from private owners. The 150-acre adjoining forest land has been excluded from the project area. The government will not acquire any homes.

The state government will hold 11% stake in JSW Bengal Steel Ltd via West Bengal Industrial Development Corp (WBIDC) and the Jindals 89%. The project is scheduled to begin commercial production in 2011. Mapping of the land and soil testing have been done, fencing will begin in September.

The idea of offering equity shares is also part of the relief and rehab policy that’s being finalised by the Centre. A section of the CPM, mainly agrarian leaders, argued that this would help landlosers identify themselves with the project.

In Nandigram, the government had to drop plans to acquire 10,000 acres for a special economic zone when a three-month battle ended in bloodshed with the death of 14 farmers in police firing on March 14. In Singur, the government acquired 997 acres from over 3,700 landholders, with around 12,000 cheques being distributed.