Bengal government begins survey to identify government-owned plots to generate more revenue

 Plan for survey was undertaken following complaints received by CM’s office about illegal occupation of vacant government land in several areas along EM Bypass

Subhasish Chaudhuri, TT, Calcutta, 20.08.23: The Bengal government on Saturday began a survey to identify government-owned plots in Calcutta’s wards 107, 108 and 109 against the backdrop of initiatives to monetise unused government plots to generate more revenue.

In the first phase of the survey that began on Saturday, at least five teams comprising officials of the South 24-Parganas district administration, state land and land reforms department and the Calcutta Municipal Corporation will identify government plots along the 11km stretch of Eastern Metropolitan Bypass from Chingrighata to the Bagha Jatin railway line.

“On the first day, the survey was conducted in the areas that fall in the jurisdiction of South 24-Parganas district administration. The authorities have put up signboards wherever government plots have been identified. Some areas have been encroached upon. A decision on this will be taken by the higher authorities after the reports are submitted to the chief minister by this month-end,” said a senior official.

The plan for the survey was undertaken following complaints received by the chief minister’s office about the illegal occupation of vacant government land in several areas along the EM Bypass, which became a major concern for the state land and land reforms department that reports to the chief minister.

Sources said that Nabanna had directed the South 24-Parganas district administration to submit the survey report positively by August 26. The report would be included in the agenda at the cabinet meeting in Nabanna scheduled for August 28, an officer said.

During the survey, the officials found several valuable plots were already encroached upon and some other plots vulnerable to encroachment.

“The government’s target is to monetise the plots that have commercial value because these can fetch a good corpus of money at a time when the state is struggling to arrange funds to take up new schemes. These plots have high commercial demand. This is the reason why protecting these plots is important,” said a source.

The plots identified as encroached or vulnerable include areas near Ruby Crossing, near Peerless Hospital and near Metro Cash & Carry.

Block land and land reforms officer (Calcutta) Tathagata Mukherjee, who was present during the identification drive, said: “Today, we have identified 52 plots in the five police stations’ jurisdiction. These include 14 plots in ward 107, 12 in ward 108 and 26 plots in ward 109. The CMC will soon erect permanent signage at these locations. Photographs with geographical data, details of latitude

and longitude will be preserved as part of the land data bank.”

Officials who undertook the survey said a good quantum of land was illegally occupied.

“There was little eviction since in most cases the occupants had clout. Our main target is now to prevent further encroachment,” said a senior official.