Farmers on Tuesday staged a protest against alleged acquisition of their land for setting up a helipad at “Bhorer Alo,” a signature tourism project of chief minister Mamata Banerjee on the right bank of the Teesta.

Located at Gajoldoba under the Rajganj block in Jalpaiguri district, “Bhorer Alo” is the largest tourism project taken up by the Bengal government.

Cottages, tents and a garden have already been readied on the site and safaris have been introduced for tourists. Private resorts, history museum, youth hostel and a helipad have also been proposed as part of the project.

On Tuesday, a section of farmers living in Milanpally, a hamlet close to the project, walked up to a piece of farmland that has been earmarked for the helipad and tried to uproot a signboard erected by the authorities.

“We have been cultivating crops on the land for years. Suddenly, we came know that our land would be used to raise infrastructure for the tourism hub. We are not ready to part with our land. It is disappointing that though the land has been earmarked for the helipad and some other projects, we were never informed,” said Swapan Das, a farmer.

According to him, 52 farmers of the area were provided with “patta (secured land tenure)” by the Left government in 1998. In total, these farmers hold around 120 acre of land.

“Since 1998, we have been cultivating paddy, fruits and vegetables on the land. We have all necessary documents with us. How can the state take over our land now,” Raikishore Das, another farmer, said.

A source in the Rajganj block administration said eight-and-a-half acres had recently been marked by the land and land reforms department for the helipad, a cold storage and solid waste management.

Although the protesters tried to remove the signboard, Siliguri Metropolitan Police and Jalpaiguri district police rushed to the spot and stopped them. The farmers had an altercation with the police, but finally refrained from pulling down the board after being informed that the block land and land reforms department would look into their claim.

Although none from the office of the block land and land reforms officer (BL&LRO) turned up, the farmers were asked to visit the office with their land documents.

“We have asked them to show us the documents. It is a project of the state tourism department and we have not made any illegal move while marking the plots,” Rupak Agarwal, the BL&LRO of Rajganj, said over the phone.

As the Trinamul government has hardly acquired any farmland, Tuesday’s protest came as a surprise to government officials.

“It is because of non-acquisition of land that several infrastructure projects like highways have been held up in the state. Several years back, land was acquired for the Teesta Barrage Project but as the entire plot was not used, some stretches were handed over to the farmers. We have to see whether the plot marked for the helipad was distributed among them,” said a senior official.

The Kisan Morcha, the peasant wing of the BJP, has warned the government of a movement. “We want to know how the state can take control of a land that was provided to farmers. Officials of the land and land reforms department should visit the spot and clarify it to the farmers. If they resort to coercion, we will launch a protests,” said Nabendu Sarkar, the Jalpaiguri district president of the Kisan Morcha.