158 persons get back lands in Kawakhali near Siliguri

Darjeeling: The Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA) returned acquired lands to 158 persons in Kawakhali near Siliguri on Monday.

"The Left Front Government had forcibly acquired lands from people in Kawakhali. With our Government coming to power in 2011, the lands were returned to 600 such persons. On Monday, we returned lands to 158 persons. The persons were chosen through lottery," stated Sourav Chakroborty, Chairman, SJDA.

Around 82.26-acre of land had been acquired in the Darjeeling district and about 208-acre in the Jalpaiguri district. The 758 persons received one-and-a-half kathas of land each.

"Till now no Government has retuned lands after coming to power except for our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. This was the case with Kalinala, Singur, Kawakhali, Rajarhat and Nandigram," added the Chairman. The SJDA Chairman stated that many infrastructure development projects have been earmarked for Siliguri. "The projects pegged at Rs 16.6 crore for the financial year 2019 -2020. However, this is only for the first phase," added Chakroborty. The infrastructure development work includes drainage; mastic road; non-mastic road; beautification; road integrated drainage system; guard walls and other repairs and construction work at Bidhan Market and Hawkers' Corner.

Incidentally, there was a fire at Bidhan Market in Siliguri on Sunday. The fire left five shops gutted.