Two government plots which were expropriated by individuals in the Jalpaiguri district have been recovered by the authorities.

While the land and land reforms department on Tuesday regained control of a plot at Gajoldoba in the Rajganj block, the state forest department recovered a patch of land on Wednesday at Nepalibusty, on the outskirts of Siliguri.

The plot of 1.33 acres at Gajoldoba was possessed by Ranjan Silsharma, a Trinamool Congress councillor at the Siliguri Municipal Corporation. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee's dream project of Bhorer Alo, a mega tourism hub, is located at Gajoldoba.

The forest land at Nepalibusty had been encroached on a decade back and was converted into a tea plantation.

Mamata had last week expressed her anguish over the highhandedness of land sharks at Dabgram-Fulbari and the surrounding areas in Rajganj block. At a meeting of the heads of civic bodies in the state and senior government officials, the chief minister said some members of the Trinamool Congress and employees of the state land and land reforms department were in cahoots with the land mafia.

Based on her instruction, the police and the administration jumped into action. Debasish Pramanik, the president of Trinamool's Dabgram-Fulbari organisational block, was arrested for his alleged involvement in land grabbing.

The Jalpaiguri district administration also initiated a survey to identify government plots which had been encroached on.

During the survey, the department came across a plot taken over by Ranjan Silsharma at Gajoldoba.

On Tuesday, a team reached the plot and cleared illegal constructions. Officials of the land and land reforms department engaged an earthmover to clear the debris and erected a board that said the plot belonged to the government.

“We had information that the plot had been encroached on. We checked all details and took possession of the land,” said Sukhen Roy, the block land and land reforms officer of Rajganj.

When contacted, Silsharma admitted that he didn't have papers to prove his ownership but claimed that he had purchased it from somebody many years back. “I had possessed the land. The state government took it back and I have nothing to comment on it.”

Mahua Gope, the Jalpaiguri district TMC president, said: “If any TMC leader or worker is involved in any illegal activity, the party will not tolerate it. The chief minister sent a clear instruction in this regard and we believe the administration has done the right thing.”

On Thursday, the Baikunthapur forest division took control of a parcel of land owned by the department at Nepali Busty.

A team from the Dabgram forest range, along with the police of the Ambari police outpost, recovered around 0.96 hectares of land.

“The encroached land was converted into a tea plantation,” said a forester.

Sources said the forest department had filed a complaint against Mantu Chandra Roy, a resident of Ashighar, on the outskirts of Siliguri, in 2009 for encroaching on the land. In 2022, Roy filed a writ petition in Calcutta High Court.

“In April, the circuit bench of the high court in Jalpaiguri directed the divisional forest officer to verify the ownership of the land,” said a source.

Based on the order, the department conducted a joint verification with the block land and land reforms department officials of Rajganj. During the verification, Roy could not produce any document to prove the ownership of the land.

“Today, we vacated the land which will be used for afforestation. We have decided to use all such illegally occupied plots for afforestation," said Manjula Tirkey, the additional divisional forest officer of Baikunthapur.

The department, she said, is conducting a survey to identify encroached plots.