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New notification will let in land sharks: CPI (M)

KOLKATA: CPI(M) leader and former Housing Minister Goutam Deb said here on Saturday that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's decision to withdraw the notification on land acquisition at Rajarhat, where a new township was coming up, will jeopardise the entire project and may also let in land sharks.

Addressing a press meet, he said that several of the facilities conceived for the New Town project (now named Jyoti Basu Nagar) on the city's eastern fringes will not come up if the present government abruptly stops acquisition of 1,587 acres as announced by the Chief Minister on Friday.

These include a waste-treatment facility for the township, a power substation, roads and a water treatment plant. The entire township is spread over 8,880 acres. He said that New Town was an urbanisation project planned for a population of over a one million

Mr. Deb also said that projects proposed by information technology majors WIPRO and Infosys in this area will also run into trouble as the identified project areas also fall within this portion for which the land acquisition notification is being withdrawn. “Most of the land had already been acquired for Infosys and Wipro, but a small portion is yet to be acquired,” Mr Deb added.

Alleging that land sharks and building promoters will benefit from this (the Chief Minister's) move, Mr Deb doubted if farmers will gain at all.

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