The Trinamul Congress-run Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) has decided to issue holding numbers and land possession certificates to all those who are living on unused railway land in the civic area, mayor Gautam Deb said on Monday.

“We have decided to provide municipal holding numbers and issue possession certificates to all those households which are on unused railway land. They include a number of slums. Also, if the railways make any adverse move in consequence of our decision, we would approach the highest level of the judiciary with the consent of the state government,” Deb said at a meeting of the board of councillors here.

In the past few weeks, chief minister Mamata Banerjee asserted many times that she would not let the railways evict any person living on the central utility’s unused land.

The Siliguri civic area has around 154 notified and over 40 non-notified slums which are on the railway land. Around one-and-a-half lakh people live in these areas.

The mayor said the chief minister had already communicated with the railway ministry at official levels and requested that the railways hand over such land which had remained unused for years to the state government.

“As the railways have not responded so far, we have decided to take this initiative to confirm that the families have been living on the land for years,” said Deb.

Nurul Islam, a senior CPM councillor, proposed that the civic body pass a resolution to provide “pattas (secured land tenures)” to all those living on railway land.

The mayor said the initiative had already been taken by the chief minister. He also criticised the Left which had been in power at the SMC for years for not taking any step in this regard. An argument ensued and eventually, the Left councillors staged a walkout.

Vaccine drive

The civic board will carry out Measles Rubella Vaccine Campaign 2023 from January 9 to February 11 next year. A source in the SMC said those aged between nine months and 15 years would be vaccinated during the campaign, according to directives issued by the state health and family welfare department.