Sandeshkhali: Guv forms team to study if ‘grabbed lands’ can be used for agriculture
Kolkata: Governor C V Ananda Bose is learnt to have formed a team which will study the lands in Sandeshkhali, which were grabbed from the villagers and turned into fish farms, and suggest ways to utilise them.
The lands are being presently returned to the villagers who had alleged that their lands were snatched away from them by Shahjahan and his aides. Such lands were subsequently flooded with saline water to pave the way for pisciculture. To ensure they can again be used by the villagers for agriculture purposes, Bose had recently visited the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and held discussions with experts on how these lands can once again be utilised. It was reportedly learnt that experts have said that the top soil of these lands is destroyed and unless it is replaced agriculture will not be possible.
Also, it was suggested that since the character of the land has now changed, pisciculture will be the preferred option to utilize these lands.
The Governor is learnt to have constituted a committee, including former secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare, SK Pattanayak, and an FAO expert to study the issue and suggest ways of land utilisation in Sandeshkhali, Raj Bhavan sources said. “So far, over 250 plots of the snatched lands have been returned to their original owners. But vast swathes of farmlands had remained submerged under the saline water of the fish farms for more than two to three years, causing much damage to the topsoil. A layer of salt has settled down on those lands that may not be able to produce crops for at least the next five to ten years,” an official said.
“Then, this freshwater may be used to irrigate the lands. Also, freshwater in the canals and ponds would gradually seep into the farmlands and mitigate the effect of the salt,” it was further added.
It was also suggested that salt-tolerant paddy varieties may be cultivated depending on the salinity of the soil.
