Bengal: Land Conflict Breaks out Near Siliguri, Residents Point Finger at TMC

Kolkata: A struggle has broken out in Pachkelguri near Siliguri, centred around 20 acres of homestead land. The land is occupied by poor people belonging to Rajbanshi, a Scheduled Caste community and Scheduled Tribe communities. Both the communities, as per local sources, have been threatened by the local land mafia, who suddenly came to take away their land showing power of attorney from the courts.

The families have been dwelling on the 20 acres for about 50 years, and some said they even have land pattas, and they protested against the move to “usurp” their land. About 200 families (comprising nearly 1,000 people) reside on this land situated near Siliguri city in the Patharghata panchayat area.

Last Saturday, the residents said they were attacked by some miscreants, including those allegedly belonging to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), who threatened to evict them. The residents said they tried to defend their land, a clash ensued in which one of the outsiders was seriously hurt. They alleged that the police, which remained a mute spectator to the attempts of “land grabbing”, instead arrested one of the residents.

Siliguri, a major city in West Bengal, forms the “Twin Cities” along with the neighbouring district capital of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in West Bengal. Known as the “Gateway of Northeast India”, Siliguri is popular for three Ts - tea, timber and tourism. It is located on the banks of the Mahananda and Teesta rivers on the foothills of the Himalayas. The city is the third largest urban agglomeration in West Bengal, after Kolkata and Asansol.

Siliguri has great strategic importance in the state as it connects four international borders i.e. China, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. It also connects the North-East with mainland India. Located on the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas, the city is a significant trading and transportation hub. Land prices in the city have been skyrocketing in the past decade or so, with land grabbers and middlemen getting active in the past four to five years, eyeing panchayat land in the vicinity.

“Till the time the Left Front governed the panchayats and Municipal Corporation of Siliguri, the land grabbers had negligible presence. However, after the last panchayat and Siliguri Municipal Corporation election, the TMC came to power, and now, they are having a free run,” alleged former mayor of Siliguri and veteran CPI(M) leader Ashok Bhattacharya, who is leading the land struggle at Pachkelguri.

Talking to NewsClick, Bhattacharya alleged that despite repeated intimation and memoranda to the police, the administration failed to take any action to prevent the situation in Pachkelguri from going out of control. “On the other side, they have sided with the land grabbers to usurp homestead land in collaboration with local TMC leaders and hooligans”, he said.

“We will not give our land at any cost and will make them bite the dust," said an elderly woman protester in Pachkelguri. The protesting residents are now preparing to face more intense struggles if needed.

The issue of grabbing homestead land have come up in several areas near Siliguri. Left leaders and residents alleged that land grabbers offer some money to the occupants for the land, and if they do not agree, they are threatened with dire consequences. Such cases of “land grabbing” have been reported in Matigara, Champasari, Atharokhai and Patharghata areas, all of which are gram panchayat areas in the vicinity of Siliguri. Even the tea garden land at Mohor Gulmaa is being “usurped by the land grabbers”, alleged Bhattacharya