After the chief minister ordered the districts to furnish detailed status reports equipped with a volume of encroached government land, the state-backed statutory bodies, both in Durgapur and Burdwan have expressed helplessness as the authorities were yet to wake up on the ‘serious’ issue.
Ahead of chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s Monday coordination meeting with the urban bodies on encroachment issue, the state’s chief secretary, on 21 June had sent a communication seeking status report by 21 July. The CM, on Monday expressed her absolute displeasure over uncountable complaints on encroachments. She has ordered the initiation of eviction from government land at the earliest.
The Asansol Durgapur Development Authority on Wednesday pleaded innocence about the database on encroached government land. Kabi Dutta, newly-appointed chairman of ADDA, said, “We don’t have a ready database in hand immediately but we’ll start work on this soon.” His organization meanwhile conducted miking in different locations of Durgapur town, including City Centre, last evening to warn the encroachers either to vacate by 30 June or face harsh penal measures. The ADDA had held an eviction drive in August, 2023 but the then chairman Tapas Banerjee had to withdraw the bid after some partial demolitions on encroached land as many heavyweights were found running businesses on government land. Dutta claimed, “Now, we won’t allow eviction at any cost. What we’ve gathered, outsiders are running businesses on land, which are priced at Rs 60-70 lakh per cottah.”
The ADDA, a state backed nodal agency, operates on 1,605 square km between Panagarh and Barakar.
The Burdwan Development Authority shouldering development works in and around Burdwan town operates on a meagre 157 square km and has encroachment on 10.67 acres. A Calcutta High Court Division Bench of Justice Debangshu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi, on 14 September, 2023 allowed the BDA to initiate civil works on the land between Alisha and Bamchsndaipur mouzas. Kakoli Ta, chairperson, BDA, said: “No such hindrance has arisen as yet and we’ve just initiated erecting concrete fencing surrounding the land.” Merely seven encroachers identified on the land met BDA officials on Wednesday seeking rehabilitation. The Burdwan Municipality area incidentally has become a safe haven of migrant encroachers.
Besides the jeopardized government land in town areas, the PSUs in Durgapur, since years have been struggling to overcome the encroachment menace. Recently, the Durgapur Steel Plant faced stiff opposition to recover 600 hectares of encroached land in Faridpur village within Durgapur town where the plant has kicked off a Rs 50,000cr upgradation in phases. The entire land is occupied by the emigrants mostly from Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh and the work has stalled since July, 2023. A Damodar Valley Corporation expansion project also has faced similar fate. The newly-elected MP, Bardhaman Durgapur, Kirti Azad has written to the top PSU officials to arrange rehabilitation first and then look for project expansion.
After the state-owned Durgapur Projects Limited, a power utility, desired to monetize most of its unused land parcels, it faced the harsh reality that nearly 50 per cent of its 3,759 acres of land was lying vacant on paper, but a meagre 154 acres could be leased out to bidders as the encroachers were having settlements on the rest of the premium land. The DPL’s bid hasn’t shown any effective yield as yet due to the encroachment on government land only.