Trinamool alleges land acquisition scam, seeks CBI probe
By IANSThursday, December 9, 2010
KOLKATA - The Trinamool Congress Thursday revived the memories of its Singur agitation, demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into what it termed a land acquisition scam in the Rajarhat area on the northeastern fringes of Kolkata.
“We want a CBI investigation into this land scam of Rajarhat which has been perpetuated by Housing Minister Gautam Deb. They (the Left Front government) have forcibly acquired lands in Rajarhat area,” Trinamool leader Partho Chattopadhyay said Thursday.
“They have ushered terror on farmers of these areas and have acquired the land. We will protest against this injustice,” he said at a rally at Salt Lake after a sit-in protest at the Housing and Industrial Development Corporation (HIDCO).
The corporation has acquired large tracts of land in the Rajarhat-Newtown area to set up a satellite township christened Jyoti Basu Nagari.
“Gautam Deb has used goons for grabbing land in Rajarhat area. They have forcibly acquired land and have not even given proper price for the land,” alleged union Minister of State for Urban Development Sougata Roy.
Roy even alleged that large tracts of land have been given to Chandan Basu, son of late chief minister Jyoti Basu, and mocked the ruling Left Front by saying that they should change the name of Jyoti Basu Nagari to Chandan Basu Nagari.
“I think they should change the name of Jyoti Basu Nagari to Chandan Basu Nagari. Because large tracts of land have been given to Chandan Basu illegally to please Jyoti Basu so that Gautam Deb has a firm position in the party,” he said.
The Trinamool Congress leaders said thousands of those who have lost their lands, including both farmers and fishermen, joined the sit-in protest outside the HIDCO office.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who earlier spearheaded the land acquisition protests at Singur and Nandigram, took out a large rally last month that traversed some areas of Rajarhat.
During the rally, she alleged that to develop the area into an industrial town, the state government has forcibly taken away 25,000 acres of agricultural lands from the farmers, most of whom were religious minorities and backward classes.
