The district magistrate of Jalpaiguri has written to the state PWD department and a tea company that owns the tea estate in the Dooars, asking them how they allowed John Barla, the Union minister of state for minority affairs and Alipurduar MP, to raise property on their land.

Barla, who recently came into limelight for demanding a separate statehood or Union territory status for north Bengal, has been accused of encroaching on leasehold land of the tea estate and a state government plot to build a house and a commercial complex.

The BJP MP, who hails from Lakhipara tea estate near Banarhat of Jalpaiguri district, allegedly has built a house on land leased out to the tea company by the state and is building a multi-storeyed commercial complex on land owned by the state PWD at Chamurchi More in Banarhat.

Acting on local Trinamul leaders’ complaints against Barla’s properties earlier this month, district magistrate Moumita Godara Basu had sought a report from the district land and land reforms department on the status of both plots. The report last week revealed the MP does not own either of these plots.

“Based on the report the DM has sent letters to the state PWD and the tea company, asking how they can allow the MP to make constructions on their land. Once she receives replies, she will send a detailed report to the state land and land reforms department and to Nabanna,” said an official of the district administration.

Another senior official pointed out that even if it is proved that Barla has encroached upon the plots, it won’t be possible for the district administration to take steps against him.

“Permission has to be sought from the Speaker of the Lok Sabha before starting legal proceedings against the MP. Only the state government can initiate steps,” the official said.

Trinamul leaders in Jalpaiguri district, who had brought the issue to the notice of the administration, are doing the groundwork.

“We have apprised a number of state leaders on how the MP, who is a Union minister of state now, has violated the law by making such constructions. We would also urge the chief minister to look into the issue,” said K.K. Kalyani, the district Trinamul chief.

Ever since the issue came to the fore, Barla stopped responding to calls made by the media. On Sunday, calls made by this paper to him went unanswered.

Other BJP leaders in the Dooars are unfazed. “We have opened the MP’s office and an office of our tea trade union in the (Banarhat) building. In Banarhat and nearby areas, most people lack proper documents of their land,” said a BJP leader in Banarhat.