TMC team visits Sandeshkhali, assures 'land taken away illegally will be returned'

Abhishek Banerjee likely to hold a rally in Sandeshkhali in second week of March 

Pradip Chatterjee, MP, 2024 : State Irrigation minister Partha Bhowmick in Sandeshkhali on Saturday said that the state government will return land to all those whose land was illegally grabbed. 

Bhowmick said that the villagers whose land was taken away illegally will submit an application to the District Magistrate (DM) office and the matter will be resolved. He also ensured that a portion of the irrigation department canal which was illegally encroached on and was made a part of Bheri would also be taken by the department. 

Bhowmick, who is also a senior Trinamool Congress leader, said that his party’s national secretary Abhishek Banerjee has sent out a strong message that the party will not tolerate any sort of hooliganism and each piece of land that was illegally grabbed will be given back to the owners. 

“We have told those people whose land was taken away, to submit an application to the DM office and it will be resolved...we spoke to those who staged a protest and the protest was not against Mamata Banerjee, it was against a few local leaders and they are already in jail,” Bhowmick said. 

On several allegations of land grabbing against TMC worker Sirajuddin Sheikh, brother of Sheikh Shahjahan, Partha Bhowmik claimed that Sirajuddin does not hold any position in Trinamool. Sujit Basu, another state minister and party leader, also agreed to it. 

According to sources, Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee is likely to hold a rally in Sandeshkhali in the second week of March. 

However, the final date is yet to be confirmed. Banerjee had earlier said action could have been taken against the person long back had the court of law not stayed the FIR lodged against him by the state police. 

Bhowmick along with State Fire Services minister Sujit Bose and local MLA Sukumar Mahato visited trouble-torn Sandeshkhali to take stock of the situation. 

They listened to the grievances of the local people and assured that issues will be resolved. Some local people told the ministers that a portion of the irrigation canal was grabbed by Sheikh Shahjahan associates and was transformed into Bheris as a result the local farmers used to face difficulties. 

Incidentally, senior officials of the Irrigation department were accompanying the minister. 

The ruling party has been under pressure after allegations of sexual misconduct against women have surfaced against fugitive Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan and his associates.

Two key aides of Shahjahan, Shibaprasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar have been arrested. 

Meanwhile, over 700 complaints have been registered with the government camp in Sandeshkhali. Police have also opened a complaint receiving centre that has received around 70 complaints till Saturday evening most of them are essentially related to land grabbing. State government sources said that a process has already been started to give to the owners the lands which were illegally grabbed. 

“We have received over 700 complaints in the last six days. Over 150 were land-related and 70 were money- and extortion-related. We have started the process of identifying and returning land to genuine owners,” a senior officer of Sandeshkhali-II Block said. 

A CPI(M) delegation led by Minakshi Mukhopadhyay was however prevented by the police from venturing further into interior villages citing the imposition of prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC. They were stopped at Majher Para area, where the CPI(M) activists staged a sit-in and raised slogans against the police. 

Later in the day, Mukhopadhyay submitted a memorandum at the Basirhat SP office. Meanwhile, a team of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) headed by Vijaya Bharati Sayani also visited trouble-torn Sandeshkhali for the second consecutive day to investigate allegations of land-grabbing by some TMC leaders. 

 https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/tmc-team-visits-sandeshkhali-assures-land-taken-away-illegally-will-be-returned-553430