Siliguri Metropolitan Police, which recently launched a drive against land mafia and those who illegally extract minor minerals like sand and pebbles from riverbeds, have arrest 68 persons in this connection so far.

It will publish a list of all such persons who have been arrested so far for public awareness.

“So far, 68 persons have been arrested by different police stations in this connection. In due course, we will publish a list of their names so that people stay away from them and do not fall in their trap again,” said Gaurav Sharma, the commissioner of Siliguri Metropolitan Police.

Recently, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had specifically instructed Sharma to take steps against land grabbers and illegal miners. The land grabbers, who function in groups, encroach upon government and private land and are involved in shady deals.

Miners, on the other hand, illegally extract sand and stones — basic materials for construction — from riverbeds and evade paying royalty to the state government.

“We have started the drive and it does not have any cut-off date. It will continue unless we stop illegal practices involving land. Also, no one will be allowed to draw sand, stones and pebbles from the riverbeds without proper documents issued by state government departments,” Sharma added.

He said the police had a list of such persons in each police station located under the Siliguri police commissionerate and were gathering details about them and making arrests at regular intervals.

“We are using our intelligence and surveillance network to trace them. Some of them have gone underground. Our officers are working on information and collating them to stop illegal land deals,” said the police commissioner.

In Siliguri and its surroundings, a number of incidents of highhandedness by the land mafia have been reported in the past few years.

A political observer pointed out that the highhandedness of these illegal syndicates left many common people aggrieved as their land was encroached and sold without their knowledge, especially in Dabgram-Fulbari and Matigara. However, no major steps were taken by the police and administration before this recent drive. “It seems Trinamul wants to revive its support base through this drive,” said the observer.