A thika cell set up to register names of tenants and bharatiyas in civic records started functioning at the municipal corporation headquarters on Wednesday.

Tenants and bharatiyas interested to enlist with the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) can get forms from the cell for the purpose. The enlistment will be necessary to develop any thika land.

The cell has started on the second floor of the civic headquarters with five CMC officials. The civic body has asked for a few more officials from the thika controller’s office for seamless functioning of the cell.

If tenants and bharatiyas want to construct a building on thika land, they can approach the cell that would function as a single-window facility.

“The thika cell started function from Wednesday. It will act as a single-window facility for people who live on thika land and to develop it,” mayor Firhad Hakim said.

Hakim and his deputy, Atin Ghosh, visited the cell on Wednesday.

In March, the Mamata Banerjee government decided to give long-term lease to thika tenants, a right that would enable the tenants to access bank loan to develop multi-storeyed buildings on these plots. The government made the change as banks did not give loans to people with only tenancy rights.

Thika tenancy land belonged to zamindars but the government took over the ownership after the zamindari system was abolished in the 1950s.

The Left Front government had granted tenancy rights to people living on these plots in 1982.

Civic officials said subjects of zamindars or people working for zamindars on land owned by zamindars came to be recognised as thika tenants. Over the years, the tenants had rented out space to more people, who came to be known as bharatiyas.

The tenants would henceforth be recognised as lessee and bharatiyas would be recorded as occupiers of the plot.

“For development of any plot the tenant must convert himself into a lessee. The form for conversion would be given here,” said the official.

In the new building, the tenants have to accommodate all the bharatiyas. “All bharatiyas must get themselves registered as occupiers on the land. The form for getting recorded as occupiers would also be available from the cell,” he said.

Later when the plan for the proposed building is prepared, the lessees would submit the form in the thika cell, said one official.