On Wednesday, Mamata Banerjee instructed the land and land reforms department to issue pattas (long-term settlement rights) to the inhabitants of the 300 or so refugee colonies throughout the state as soon as possible.
Give (patta) to every single one of the designated refugee settlements. During an event to deliver patta to over 4,000 landless persons on Wednesday at Netaji Indoor Stadium in this city, the chief minister told the land and land reforms secretary, Smaraki Mahapatra, “All of them should be given patta.
According to sources, the campaign to provide patta to residents of Bengal’s refugee colonies started before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in an effort by Trinamul to halt the BJP’s expansion there at the time.
“The Matua community had voted overwhelmingly in favour of the saffron camp, which was the only reason the BJP had won two Lok Sabha seats (of the 18 it won in 2019) — Bongaon and Ranaghat. The government is attempting to obstruct the process by granting freehold land rights, a crucial document to show one’s domicile, now that the BJP has resumed discussing the citizenship question in an effort to win over the refugees, according to a bureaucrat.
Senior Nabanna officials claim that patta distribution to residents of 94 refugee settlements on state-owned land has been completed. However, in the case of 237 colonies, which were established on private and government-owned land, the process has come to an end.
The railways objected to the proposal, claiming that the state cannot grant such rights to individuals on plots owned by central agencies such as the railways. As a result, distributing pattas to the residents of colonies on central government territory was halted midway. Now it appears like the procedure for granting pattas on property owned by the central government will reopen, according to a bureaucrat.
Mamata reiterated on Wednesday that no forced acquisition will be permitted in Bengal, not even for the purpose of building national highways or railroads.
I was informed that efforts are being made to forcibly acquire land for flyovers or national highways. A similar endeavour was done in Pandaveswar. The chief minister declared, “I am making it plain that nobody will be demolished without giving him or her full rehabilitation and compensation.
According to sources in Nabanna, the chief minister brought up the subject to address rural residents after opposition parties claimed that people were being forcibly evicted from Deocha-Pachami in Birbhum district in order to make way for the state government’s projected coal mine.
“The state administration has announced a sizable settlement for Deocha-Pachami land loss. According to a bureaucrat, “Deocha-Pachami does not engage in forced land acquisition since the chief minister has made it plain that she opposes it.