KOLKATA: The attack on councillor Sushanta Ghosh prompted the state to conduct a survey of land in large areas located off EM Bypass to reclaim encroached govt land and identify abandoned land to prevent landsharks from encroaching them.
A team of officials under BLRO (south) on Tuesday went to Gulshan Colony and surveyed land in large parts of the area that were either grabbed or an attempt was being made to grab them.
KMC has planned to reclaim vast stretches of land both on the outskirts of EM Bypass and in different parts of Kolkata within 144 wards. The KMC survey department already reclaimed 150 bighas of land that were either lying unused or grabbed by vested interest groups.
These plots are now being utilised for the city’s infrastructure development.
Sources in the KMC said that out of 150 bighas of reclaimed land, the biggest land reclamation happened in Garden Reach (121 bighas). Some other areas which are on civic body’s reclamation list are Dhakuria, Gobra (Park Circus), Joka and Behala, among others.
“We have been searching for our unclaimed land and continuously reclaiming land from govt agencies and individuals. We have set our sights on bigger chunks of plots located off EM Bypass.”
According to an official, the civic body and the state land department will primarily need to keep their focus on Paschim Chowbagha, Nayabad mouza, Nonadanga, Martinpara and Gulshan Colony, where a section of landsharks are not only grabbing govt lands but are also trying to encroach EKW sites. “We are keeping watch on a total of around 800 such govt-owned vacant plots, located in KMC wards 107, 108 and 109 off EM Bypass — stretching from near Dhapa mouza to Nayabad mouza at Mukundapur,” said a civic official.
The state has already set up a high-level committee under the chief secretary to come out with a status report of all vacant govt land off EM Bypass. Officials said that the aim was to reclaim all encroached land off EM Bypass and to be ready with a complete land bank for auctioning them off for residential and commercial purposes.
KMDA razed four to five unauthorised buildings that were set up on their land in areas around Rajdanga and Patuli to reclaim the plots. The authorities lodged about 45 FIRs at the local police stations for illegal building construction on KMDA plots following a survey by the urban development department to identify plots that were encroached.
