Storm brews over leasing of land

Caesar Mandal / TNN / May 21, 2007, 03:05 IST

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The Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government is in a soup over leasing out a plot that it thought was its own.

KOLKATA: The Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government is in a soup over leasing out a plot that it thought was its own. However, a reality check conducted by the Howrah administration has come as a rude shock. And this, days after the state Cabinet okayed the move to hand over this land to West Bank Hospital.
Land records reveal that the land doesn't belong to the government. It is in the name of an industrialist, who donated the land to the government way back in 1961. The government can't prove this either as the gift deeds are missing.
The plot in question is a portion of a nine-acre land off Andul Road that now houses the state-run vagrants' home. Industrialist Indranath Karnani donated this land to the government on condition that it would set up a home for the vagrants.
Accordingly, the government set up a rehabilitation centre with a field in front, a football ground and a pond dotting the area.

Trouble began after the state social welfare department that runs the home at 120, Andul Road, mooted the proposal to lease out 3.8 acres in front, to West Bank Hospital for the latter to build a 400-bed super-speciality hospital. The proposal received the nod from the Cabinet even before the records were verified, the proposal got the nod from the Cabinet. The government also went ahead and accepted a lump sum from the hospital in advance.
The fact came to light only after Howrah district magistrate Khalil Ahmed asked for the records to decide on the price of the land. The land revenue department sent out an SOS to Ahmed saying the government was leasing out a land that doesn't belong to it on paper.
The hospital authorities are now putting pressure on the government to hand over the land.
The government is clearly on the backfoot. Ahmed has already sent a report to Writers' stating the status of the land.
The government can't lease out a piece of land that is not its own. It can't even take a decision without the consent of the owner, who was the "donor." However, the Howrah district magistrate was not willing to get mired in the controversy.
"The verification of the land records is in process," Ahmed said. Social welfare department secretary S N Haque also shied away from making a statement. "I am not entitled to say anything on this matter," said Haque.
The employees of the vagrant home at Andul have also questioned the rates at which the land was leased out. "The government is handing over the land at a throwaway price," said Subir Saha, general secretary of the Social Welfare Employees' Association. The organisation has also organised a stir against the proposed handover.

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