Race to provide land rights

TT,  Alipurduar: The district administration has taken an initiative to expedite the process of handing over land rights to residents of Alipurduar and the bordering town of Jaigaon.

The move follows an instruction from chief minister Mamata Banerjee during an administrative review meeting of the district at Tiabon in Jalpaiguri on Wednesday.

At the meeting, the chief minister had asked officials posted in the district and also those working in the state land and land reforms department to finish the process by December 31.

In the Alipurduar district, a section of residents does not have land rights. It is a longstanding demand that the state intends to resolve now.

On Thursday, the district magistrate held a meeting where it was decided that the survey of land, that has been initiated both in Alipurduar and Jaigaon, should be sped up and regular updates would be provided to the administration by teams engaged in the work.

"Five teams are working in Jaigaon and another two teams in the Alipurduar civic area. It has been decided that every day, each team will brief us on the progress of the work, along with photos and other details. The plan is to collect details of the land and the people staying on the land, who in turn, would be provided with it on a lease," said an official.

Once the survey is done, the administration would conduct a hearing of the persons concerned who are staying on the plots. The necessary documents would then be sent to the land reforms commissioner for further processing.