Enclave dwellers skeptical about Bengal Government's guarantee of land rights

A day after the bill to give land rights to enclave dwellers was tabled at the West Bengal Assembly, residents of enclaves said the process would not be easy and there would be a lot of technicalities at the ground level.

While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee touted it as a historic bill, residents remained skeptical about it. Diptiman Sengupta, chief coordinator, Citizen Rights Co-ordination Committee and BJP convenor of Jalpaiguri district said that it was only an eyewash ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

"There should have been a Lok Adalat first to ascertain the ownership of the lands before handing them over. The CM did this to ensure the 16,000 odd votes of the enclave dwellers. However, for the plan to materialise, it will take at least another two years," Sengupta told DNA.

Enclave dwellers too echoed similar views. "We are happy. But cannot be ecstatic about it till it actually bears fruit. At this moment, it seems too good to be true. Had it been this simple, it would have been have done long ago," said a senior enclave dweller on condition of anonymity.

Another enclave dweller, Rahman Ali, resident of Poaturkuthi area, said that many lands have not been demarcated properly. "There are several cases of people coming from Bangladesh and forcibly acquiring lands belonging to others," Ali said.

Udayan Guha, TMC MLA from Dinhata, however, maintained that all formalities have been done. "All the necessary paper work has been done. There is no scope for any problem. People who have physical possession of land will get the papers. There will be no issue," Ghosh told DNA.