The proposed shipbuilding yard, a 50:50 joint venture between Mumbai-based Bharati Shipyard Ltd and Kolkata-based Apeejay Group, would displace some 1,800 families, including 150 families which would lose their homes.

The compensation plan, believed to be the first of its kind, would ensure acquiring land is not too difficult, the district official said, declining to be named. The government will acquire the land through the Land Acquisition Act of 1894, and it has issued a notification last month to that effect.

Mint could not independently verify the claim nor gauge it reception among area residents at Geonkhali in West Bengal's East Midnapore district, where the yard will be built.

Bengal Shipyard has offered to resettle those surrendering homestead land for the project in a residential colony. Even encroachers, who have built illegal homes, would find a place in the colony. If a family chooses to move, it would also receive cash compensation.

For others who would lose farmland, the company has promised at least one job to a family. The shipbuilding yard, which is estimated to cost around Rs2,000 crore to build, is likely to create 7,000 direct and 20,000 indirect jobs.

This initiative is an instance of companies innovating in West Bengal to win over people who would lose land due to industrialization.

Bengal Shipyard will pay to train displaced farmers at schools in Haldia, a nearby town; and while they are being trained, the company will offer a monthly stipend. It is also considering monthly cash support to the elderly and the physically challenged.