Officials from the Ministry of home affairs’ (MHA) Enemy Property Office surveyed the status of a building in Raja Bazar today.

“The government aims to monetise and generate revenue from these (enemy) properties. This particular property had a case related to the building. We have come to assess the status, survey the building, and gather details of the occupants,” the official said.

Around 100 police and CRPF personnel accompanied the survey team since locals had opposed such a survey earlier. “We came accompanied with central forces this time as in February we had taken a drive and we had filed a FIR,” said an official.

One official said the survey was conducted under the Enemy Property Act, 1968. The Act was introduced after the Indo-Pak war of 1965 and 1971, following the migration of people from India to Pakistan.

An officer said the Rajabazar plot is spread over 44 kottah areas.

“There is a SC directive which is an instruction to KMC to demolish it. We came to see it and then will give a status report to the court. AS of now, none of the occupants are giving us rent. There is a process of online rent payment and we are trying them to be brought under the system. If they want to buy the property, the central government has kept that option as well. That will only be applicable if they are occupants paying regular rent,” added another official.

The official stated that there are 96 such properties in Kolkata, 4,500 in West Bengal as identified by the ministry.

“After the 1962 China war and Bangladesh war, people had moved to erstwhile East Pakistan and the rent paid to them was draining the Indian economy. To block this, the central government created a custodian locally. In this property, there are three Pakistani nationals, who moved to Pakistan and their property got vested with the central government,” added the official.

We have records that there are 66 assesses in this property, officials added.

On being told that the occupants are paying tax, the official said they are not supposed to. “We are paying tax to the KMC for the other Enemy Property. They have muted the property in their own name. We are supposed to take tax from them on a pro-rata basis. We have taken it up with the KMC. The occupants will not give us taxes but will give us rent,” clarified the official.