Representatives of a section of Santiniketan residents on Tuesday wrote to chief minister Mamata Banerjee, asking her not to return the 2.9km road, which Visva-Bharati vice chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty asked for from her in his letter on Monday.

The Mamata government took over the road from the varsity in 2021 after residents complained the varsity authorities did not let them use it.

On Tuesday, those who wrote the letter feared the same harassment.

The letter, signed by six representatives of old-timers, traders, and teachers, was e-mailed to Mamata a day after Chakrabarty wrote to her asking for the road, citing its necessity to protect the Unesco World Heritage Site.

"We would like to request you not to approve the plea by the VC as it would cause embarrassment for us.... You took over the road from Visva-Bharati following complaints from us (people of Santiniketan). Even the tourists and local artisans are dismayed following the activities of the VC," the residents' letter read.

The letter mentioned that keeping the road in the custody of the state government was important, as it connects the houses of several Santiniketan old-timers, including Nobel laureate Amartya Sen.

During her administrative meeting in December 2020, Mamata announced the decision to take back the road from Visva-Bharati, after some residents wrote to her that the Chakrabarty-led varsity administration harassed them over its use.

The road, earlier with the state government, was handed over to Visva-Bharati in 2017 after an appeal from the then varsity administration.

In his letter, Chakrabarty claimed that the transfer of the road from the state government to Visva-Bharati was important to safeguard the Unesco heritage site.

Visva-Bharati's acting public relations officer Mahua Banerjee declined comment when asked about Tuesday's letter by the residents to the chief minister.