Chief minister Mamata Banerjee handed over official papers of the land deed of Pratichi Bhawan to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. As expected, the CM during his three-day Birbhum district tour arrived here this afternoon in a helicopter and went straight to Amartya Sen’s residence in Bolpur.
So far the Bengal CM had been silent on this ongoing controversy about the Nobel laureate’s land encroachment allegation by Visva-Bharati University. Miss Banerjee said that she has handed over all the related documents of the land deed to Amartya Sen and criticised the recent allegations and moves by the VBU (without naming the central varsity). “You have all the required supportive documents now.
You decide on your next step, including legal options. We are also looking into the issue seriously and want to see an end to this,” the CM added. Attacking the VBU, the CM also criticised the effort to saffronise the central varsity. “He himself has got land without any cost, without naming the VBU VC professor Bidyut Chakraborty,” she alleged.
The CM told Amartya Sen that he is the pride of Bengal and is in pain after such allegations are levelled against him. “I have been waiting so long and have directed my government to make a survey of your land and the records of the official survey by the land and land reforms department are with me now. Not only me, my government is also beside you,” Miss Banerjee added.
“The allegations made by the university authorities of illegally occupying 13 decimals of land, was totally false and meant to malign the image of the great educationist. We will take whatever legal action required in this regard also which I will not disclose now.
But I will not tolerate the insult of the Nobel laureate at any cost,” Banerjee said. On the spot, she also directed the district police to provide Z+ security to Sen. She also directed the superintendent of police, Nagendra Tripathi to set up a temporary police camp in front of his residence there.