State govt to table Bill to hand over land rights papers to thousands of enclave dwellers

Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government will introduce a Bill in the state Assembly to ensure land rights to the residents of enclaves (Chitmahal) in Cooch Behar.

It may be mentioned that 14,854 people had become Indian citizens with 51 enclaves of Chitmahal coming within the country's jurisdiction in July 2015. But still, land rights issues have not been settled yet for thousands of enclave dwellers.

Now, in a bid to give relief to them, the state government is going to table the Bill in the forthcoming Assembly session.

Chandrima Bhattacharya, Minister of State for Health, said: "A Bill will be brought in during the forthcoming Assembly session in connection with land rights of Chitmahal. The Bill will be introduced to ensure that the residents of Chitmahal get their land rights."

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee exhorted the district administration and the concerned departments to speed up the process of handing over the land rights documents to the enclave dwellers. She even stated that if necessary, an Ordinance would be issued regarding the same.

It may be mentioned that the Chief Minister had discussed the issue during her recent visit to Cooch Behar.

She had mentioned: "Land rights documents have to be handed over to enclave dwellers and the process has to be hastened."

She had further stated: "We have to issue an Ordinance if required and later the laws can be amended. The process should be initiated within a week."

With the Chief Minister's intervention into the matter, necessary steps have been taken up and following all discussions in this connection, the state government has decided to introduce a Bill in the forthcoming Assembly session.