By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, November 2, 2015 : The Odisha Cabinet headed by chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday approved constitution of a land bank which is expected to go a long way in removing hurdles to make land available for industries in the state.

The proposed land bank will comprise of both government and private lands.

Land acquisition for the bank will be done through the state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO).

“The Cabinet today approved the proposal for constitution of a land bank. The proposed bank will initially have one lakh acres of land. The land will be given to industries as per their requirement,” chief secretary Gokul Chandra Pati told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.

Industry minister Debi Prasad Mishra said the land bank proposal was there for long and the revenue department placed it in the cabinet today for approval.

“Initially, it was decided to raise the land bank of 4 lakh acres which was later revised to two lakh acres. In the first phase, it has been decided to acquire one lakh acres of which 70,000 acres have been acquired in various districts,” Mr Mishra said.

The Cabinet also gave its nod to a proposal for amending the Odisha Civil Services Pension Rules that will benefit persons working in the state government on contractual basis.

“With amendment in rules, employees working in the government on contractual basis will get pensions. Under the pension scheme, 10 per cent will be deducted from the salary of a contractual employee towards pension; the government will contribute an equal amount towards the scheme,” said Mr Pati.

The Cabinet also cleared a proposal for constitution of a land bank in the state for providing land to industries.

The Cabinet cleared a proposal for construction of 2,601 go downs in the state to solve the problems of storage of paddy in the state. Further, the Cabinet approved a proposal allowing industries to pay their outstanding water cess dues in five installments. It also approved a proposal to grant premium free land to Maulana Azad Urdu University at Athagarh.

Besides, the chief secretary informed that the government will get back the land provided to the South Korean steel major, Posco for its guest house in Bhubaneswar.

The land will be returned to the General Administration department, he added.