Land sharks eating into East Kolkata wetlands

SLOW DEATH Realtors pump out water, fill land and sell them as plots at a premium

KOLKATA: In 2014 Asit Mondal, who is in his forties and a real estate promoter, purchased a pond spreading over 32 bigha from Ganesh Naskar. The deal was of ~1.45 crore, of which Mondal paid an advance of f ~81 lakh. Naskar paid off about a dozen workers of the fishery and pumped out water to create a level plot.

But, it triggered suspicion among a few locals, who conducted their own investigation and found out that the land belonged to the state government and the occupants – the Naskar – only has user rights. The locals also found that the government vested the land back in the seventies. The Naskars ‘sold’ the pond using land records previous to the vesting.

“I never knew I was walking into a trap. Later I came to know that conversion of land character in this area is illegal,” Mondal told HT. In September, Mondal sought refund of the advance amount after angry locals filled up the tank again with water and released fishlings there.

Welcome to the new pattern of illegal land sale in East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW).

How are fishery ponds being sold to realtors? HT investigation revealed a pattern: the owner strikes a deal with realtors, uses the advance payment to compensate workers at the fishery pond, pumps water out of it, waits for a few months and then starts filling it with soil, rubbish and garbage. Then the land is divided into plots and demarcated with small concrete pillars.

Declared a ‘wetland of global importance’ by the Ramsar Convention in 2002, the EKW is considered an ‘ecological wonder’ sprawling across 125 sq km that not only treats most of Kolkata’s waste water but also provides the city a lot of fish and vegetables.

The ecological soft spot EKW has attracted attention of real estate operators, thanks to Kolkata’s locational disadvantage. The metropolis cannot expand to the west where the Hooghly river acts as a natural boundary. Its expansion to the north and south is also quite saturated. EKW forms the eastern fringe, the only expansion zone.

“There are rules on restrictions construction here, so much so that even original inhabitants are not free to expand or modify their existing humble houses. One should continue with complete ban on outsiders constructing houses but needs of existing households should be treated realistically,” said Dhrubajyoti Ghosh, environmentalist who discovered the uniqueness of EKW in the 1980s.

Fishery ponds – the nucleus of the ecosystem – are the most vulnerable spots. They are changing hands despite a ban on change of land character since 1992. NEW DELHI: The Border Security Force (BSF) has not caught any Rohingya with arms or terror links but it cannot be ruled out, KK Sharma, chief of the paramilitary force, said on Wednesday, adding that there were about 36,000 Rohingyas in the country.

“The threat that they have links with terror organisations is a very serious one. It has been given by our sister agencies and I don’t doubt them,” Sharma said on Wednesday. He said his troops apprehended 87 Rohingya Muslims along the India-bangladesh border in 2017 and 76 “had been sent back to Bangladesh”.

The annual report released by the BSF on Wednesday said agents lure Rohingyas with good job opportunities in India and motivate them that they will work with their own community in states such as J&K, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

“Apart from being a natural choice due to its Muslim majority, the Rohingyas say they pick J&K on economic considerations and most of them follow a similar pattern. Once a Rohingya reaches Jammu, he stays there for a few months and then invites other relatives, informing them of job opportunities and better pay,” it said.

In its annually collected data, released two days before its 52nd raising day, the BSF highlighted key issues and initiatives taken along the eastern border.

Issues such as Maoism, narcotics smuggling, fake Indian currency networks, illegal sale of arms and ammunition, cattle smuggling and illegal immigration of Rohingya Muslims rank high on the agenda of the force. The operational initiatives taken by BSF in 2017 have been on the eastern border with some of them waiting approval from the ministry of home affairs.

The BSF data between December 2016 and October 2017 — a period post demonetisation — suggested that fake Indian currency networks took a major hit after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement last year in November, but they continue to operate and have even replicated the new ₹2,000 note to the best of their “abilities”

This year till October 31, fake notes worth ₹50 lakh, all of ₹2,000 denomination, were seized by the BSF. In 2013, the force seized fake notes worth ₹95 lakh, followed by ₹1.9 crore in 2014, ₹2.8 crore in 2015 and ₹1.5 crore last year.

The BSF also claimed to have penetrated areas previously considered safe havens for Left-wing extremists, apprehending 120 Maoists in Odisha and Chhattisgarh along with weapons.

In addition, the paramilitary force managed to recover over 10,000kg narcotics and seized 1.20 lakh cattle.

Sharma said the government in Bangladesh, being “friendly”, had helped the force maintain law and order but more had to be done for its upkeep.