In Singur rerun, TMC govt to return land near Siliguri

KOLKATA/SILIGURI: In a rerun of the decision to return land acquired from unwilling farmers in Singur, the Mamata Banerjee administration on Monday decided to return 11 acres of land to 52 families in Kawakhali near Siliguri, reversing a decision by the Left Front government.

This is the second instance in Bengal that land acquired for infrastructure will be returned by the government to original landowners.

“Land of more than 11 acres will be returned to the families. The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting today. The land was taken away from them during the Left rule,” said education minister and TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee on Monday. The government did not set a time frame to complete the exercise.

The land was acquired in 2005 by Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA). A total of 302 acres of land were acquired by SJDA that was controlled by the Left. The land parcel was spread over villages in Matigara block of Darjeeling and Rajganj block of Jalpaiguri district.

Out of the total land, the ‘unwilling’ families between themselves held more than 11 acres. “Finally, we got justice. It would have been better had the victory came before four land owners passed away,” said Manimohan Biswas, former president of Tiknikata Kawakhali Land Owners’ Welfare Association. HTC