Realtors of a private housing complex project in Santiniketan stopped their construction work on Thursday amid a protest by around a hundred people accusing the realtors of evicting a section of them from land given to them by the state government in the early 1990s on the outskirts of Santiniketan.

A group of people from the three villages of Bandlodanga, Malodanga, and Sarpukurdanga in Santiniketan began agitating at the front gate of the under-construction housing project, located around six kilometres from the Visva-Bharati campus. They accused the authorities of grabbing their land and evicting a section of people, including tribal members, from their patta land.

Patta is a long-term settlement right provided by the state government to landless farmers and it is not transferrable.

The first phase of the project started in 2012, and the work on the second phase began two years ago on approximately 17 acres of land.

Those evicted said they used to till the land for their livelihood and wanted it returned to its previous condition.

“We were threatened to give up our land; otherwise, we would have to face consequences. Many were evicted from the land under threats of dire consequences. Around an acre of my family patta land, given by the state government to my father in 1993, was grabbed from us following threats by local Trinamool leaders who were hand-in-glove with the realtors,” said Ashish Roy Ghatowal, one of the protestors.

The agitators said they found the courage to launch a protest after chief minister Mamata Banerjee asked officials and leaders to vacate all encroachments from government land.

“Patta land is also government land and we were evicted from our rights. We gathered courage as our chief minister directed us to take steps against all illegal encroachments on government land,” Ashish added.

A section of local Santiniketan residents claimed that the agitation and allegations of the poor people were just the tip of the iceberg. There are several complaints of forcible land grabs and conversion of land characteristics by influential political leaders in the area, given that the price of land in Santiniketan has shot up in the past three decades.

“The land mafia became active in Santiniketan over the past few decades as a large number of people from Calcutta started showing interest in purchasing properties in Santiniketan,” a Visva-Bharati professor said.

Many tribal people also accused the realtors of grabbing their land.

“They threatened to kill my son if I didn’t sacrifice my land. So, I thought it
would be better to give my land to them. They also threatened to trap us in false criminal cases if we protested,” said a protestor.

Before Thursday’s protest, last week a group of land-losers wrote to the Birbhum
district magistrate demanding the return of their land to its previous condition. A senior official said the district magistrate and the sub-divisional officer of Bolpur had already visited the site and ordered a probe by the district land and land reforms department.

“In a preliminary probe, it has been proven that both patta and government land are involved in the said housing project. We are now determining the amount of land included in the project. We have issued a notice of suspension of work this evening,” said Bidhan Ray, Birbhum district magistrate.

After the four-hour-long protest on Thursday, the manager of the project announced that they would not continue their ongoing construction until the district administration’s investigation was complete.

“ We have acquired the land as per the government norms and orders procured from the BLRO & SDO office and have complied with all the orders issued by them till date. Presently, we are looking into the allegations raised by a section of people and seeking legal advice,” said Subarna Mookherjee, the owner of the project.