Mamata halts land acquisition at Rajarhat

The West Bengal government has halted the acquisition process of 1,687 acres of land at Rajarhat-New Town a sprawling township and industrial hub east of Kolkata.

The decision,which was taken at a meeting of Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO),comes soon after the Assembly passed a bill in the Assembly to return land to unwilling farmers in Singur .

The meeting was presided over by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Kolkata Corporation Mayor Shovon Chatterjee and other officials also attended the meeting. HIDCO is in charge of acquiring land for development at Rajarhat.

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Banerjee also said that the state government will do away with the ministers quota in distribution of land at Rajarhat. The earlier government took decisions that were arbitrary and erroneous. For example,there was one occasion in which 38 resolutions were passed in a day. So far,7,085 acres of land were acquired at Rajarhat but out of that only 250 acres of land were purchased and the rest were acquired forcibly. Out of that,the state government still has got 1707 acres with it. Furthermore,notice was sent for acquisition of 1,113 acres of land and notice for acquisition of another 574 acres of land was in the process of being sent. In all 1,687 acres of land were going to be acquired. The entire process is being scrapped, Banerjee said.

When contacted,former Minister for Housing Gautam Dev,however,refused to comment. I have called a press conference at 4 pm Saturday and I will tell you what I have to say then, Dev told The Indian Express.

It was before the Assembly elections that the Trinamool Congress had a spat with the CPM whom it accused of acquiring land forcibly at Rajarhat. It also announced that it would bring out a white paper on Rajarhat if it came to power.