According to IT officials, the company that owns the land, Akash Nirman Private Ltd, already has 400 acres of land in its possession, while it is yet buy the remaining 200 acres from farmers. The farmers had agitated on Saturday over the 200 acre.

“We have been cheated earlier when we handed over our land at a nominal price for the Vedic Village Project. We did not get any jobs. We do not want to make the same mistake again. We are waiting for the companies to come to us, following which, we will chalk out our next course of action,” said the agitating farmers.

“Getting the right price is the main issue. Most farmers would not hesitate to give up land if they get proper price for their land according to the market price. These plots don’t yield too much crop any way,” said Arun Roy, a villager.

Akash Nirman Private Limited director Raj Modi said a particular section of the locals is making an issue out of nothing.

“Some people, who do not even have any land in the area, are trying to make it an issue before the panchayat polls. No land has been forcefully acquired,” he said. Modi, however, preferred to avoid the question as to how much money the farmers would get for handing over per cottah of their plot.

State IT minister Debesh Das, however, was confident enough to put aside all speculations. “Apart from Infosys and Wipro, we will provide land to other IT companies as well within the 600-acre earmarked area,” he said.

According to the deal signed, Akash Nirman Private Limited, the land development company would keep 600 acre with themselves and will hand over 600 acre to several IT firms including Infosys and Wipro to set up an IT park at the new site at Rajarhat.