The district land records officer of East Midnapore, Kanchan Das has been asked to get the law and order situation assessed by the Intelligence Branch before embarking on the project.

An air of suspicion about the Government's intention might still be haunting people, said a senior bureaucrat.

The land distribution will begin at places like Ramna gar and Sutahata which are adjacent to Nandigram.

Later, vested land in Nandigram will be taken up for distribution.

"We want to win back the hearts of people in Nandi gram by giving them land free of cost," an official at Writers' Building said.

The project for distribution of land among the landless was launched in December 2005, a total of 29.5 lakh people were given pattas and in the process, a total of 10.23 lakh acres of land was distributed.

With 6.65 lakh people having received pattas, West Midnapore tops the districts in the number of beneficiaries.

West Bengal has 29.83 lakh acres of vested land with it. "We are distributing pattas among the poor in order to empower them economically," L & LR Commissioner P K Agarwal told The Indian Express.