The Bengal administration is all set to regularise more than 500 thatched houses built on encroached government land in ward 109 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), but is in a dilemma on what to do with over 1,000 pucca structures that have also come up on encroached land in the same area.

“A proposal to regularise 500-odd thatched houses in ward no 109 (Mukundapur) has been sent to Nabanna. But no decision has been taken on 1,000-odd pucca structures, including one or two-storey houses and some high rises, in the same ward,” said an
official in South 24-Parganas.

Recently, the South 24-Parganas district administration had carried out a survey in wards 107, 108 and 109 of the KMC to ascertain how much government land had been encroached upon in those prime areas.

Sources said the target was to identify vacant government land parcels and generate a handsome amount by selling off those plots. But, the sources said, as it was found that large portions of the government land had been encroached upon, the officers were clueless on how to deal with the problem.

A source said the team conducting the survey realised that it couldn’t propose a large-scale eviction ahead of the Lok Sabha polls because a decision like that would have political repercussions.

“The problem of encroachment is maximum in ward 109 while the government has earmarked and put up signage on vacant government plots in wards 107 and 108,” said a source.

Sources in the South 24-Parganas district administration said a decision to give a long-term lease against the payment of Re 1 to those who had set up thatched houses on the government land citing they were downtrodden people had been taken.

“As this is not a rural area, we cannot give them pattas. But a long-term lease is legally tenable. But regularising high-rises and houses is tough as their occupants cannot be termed poor and downtrodden people,” said an official.

On the other hand, the government cannot go all out to evict the occupants of the buildings set up on the encroached government land as that could send an adverse message ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The sources said a minister had proposed to lease out the encroached plots to those who were residing on them against the payment of a minimum penalty during a meeting held recently. But senior administrative officials rejected the proposal saying the government couldn’t justify the move of regularising the high-rises against a minimum payment.

“There are some proposals like charging five per cent of the current market price of the land from those who built one-storey houses and 10 per cent of the market price of land from those who set up two-storey houses. But nothing has been finalised as it has to be a political decision,” said a source.