Chief minister Mamata Banerjee instructed Vivek Kumar, the principal secretary of the land and land reforms department, to review the documents pertaining to government-owned land that has been illegally taken over by a group of land mafia and subsequently sold to third parties.
The chief minister held a meeting at Nabanna on Thursday and cautioned Vivek Kumar that the government will not permit the transfer of ownership to third parties who have purchased government land from land mafias in Siliguri and Jalpaiguri regions.
According to CM Ms Banerjee, she has received numerous complaints regarding a group of land mafia illegally obtaining government-owned land and selling it to others. She has also requested an investigation into the transfer of land belonging to the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA) to determine the extent of illegal transactions.
Additionally, the CM has asked for a report on all land transactions made by SJDA in the last seven years.
The state government has recently dismissed the chairman of SJDA, Sourav Chakraborty, and disbanded the committee. Currently, bureaucrats have been chosen to manage the functions of SJDA.
The chief minister made it clear that she directed the police to apprehend the Dabgram Fulbari Block president of her party in Jalpaiguri for illegally selling government-owned land.
She emphasized the importance of taking immediate action and ensuring that no one involved is exempt from consequences. Depending on reported complaints, even councillors or party leaders may face arrest.
“As such, I have instructed the police to arrest the Dabgram Fulbari Block president of our party,” she said.
Debasish Pramanik, a prominent member of the Trinamul Congress, was apprehended by the Siliguri Metropolitan Police yesterday evening following a complaint from a woman named Julapi Roy.
Two other individuals were also arrested in connection with this incident.
Today, Mr Pramanik and his accomplices were brought before the court where they were granted a seven-day police custody for additional probing, according to sources.
Julapi Roy claims that a group of five individuals, who possess forged documents for a 2.6 decimal parcel of land, coerced her into leaving the property. These five people hold significant political power. Debasish Pramanik and Goutam Goswami, both political leaders, persistently intimidated her to vacate the plot of land.
Notably, a few days ago, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had instructed the authorities concerned to take stern action against those land mafia members who were illegally grabbing and selling government land at high prices in Dabgram Fulbari and Kawakhali near Siliguri.
Mr Pramanik, who was Trinamul Congress’s block president in Dabgram Fulbari and a former member of Jalpaiguri zilla parishad (karmadhakshya), had close ties with Siliguri mayor Goutam Deb, who has been elected as an MLA from Dabgram Fulbari twice.
However, Goutam Goswami has served as a member of SJDA.
Sources reveal that the chief minister has been made aware of her party leaders’ involvement in illegally obtaining government land for various projects such as housing projects, industrial growth centres in Dabgram, Teesta Barrage Project at Kawakhali, and even the National Highway project in Jalpaiguri.
It has been reported that a number of officials connected to the block land and land reforms offices, especially Rajganj block land and land reforms office in Jalpaiguri, as well as the district land acquisition department, are suspected of being involved in fraudulent land activities.
Due to the lack of mutation conducted by the state government on acquired lands, land mafias were able to exploit the situation and claim ownership of the land by altering old records from before the acquisition, sources said.
A number of TMC leaders here have allegedly taken possession of a significant amount of land, owned by the government near Uttarkanya, a branch secretariat, and Dabgram Industrial Growth Center within the Siliguri Metropolitan Police Commissionerate.
In addition, unscrupulous individuals, belonging to TMC, have also encroached upon land belonging to SJDA and the irrigation and waterways department (especially for Teesta Project) in the Kawakhali region.
Following the arrest of Mr Pramanik, other leaders such as the booth president and members of the gram panchayat have fled their residences.