Freehold deeds for 20K refugee colony residents

Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government is all set to give freehold title deeds to at least 20,000 residents of refugee colonies in the state soon.

A database containing names of as many as 15,000 people, who will receive the freehold title deeds, has already been prepared while another 5,000 to 7,000 will get added to it with completion of the related work in the next two days.

With the completion of the task by the end of this week, only the Chief Minister's approval remains to be sought to finalise the date of distribution of the freehold title deeds by her.

The letter of allotment for all 15,000 beneficiaries is ready and the same for the remaining will get prepared before the date of distribution, said an official adding that simultaneously they will be provided with the title deed documents.

Earlier, freehold title deeds were distributed among the maximum number of residents of 94 refugee colonies in the state and on March 3, Banerjee had announced at Kaliaganj in North Dinajpur that the same will be given to residents of another 119.

Accordingly, the state Land and Land Reforms and Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation department had initiated a survey. Despite receiving a major jolt due to the lockdown and Covid situation, the officials completed the work and preparation of all necessary documents followed by proper measurement of each and individual plot along with its proper assessment.

According to a senior state government officer, most of the 20,000 beneficiaries are residents of the 119 refugee colonies and only a few are from the 94 colonies most of whom had received the title deeds earlier.

It is going to be a historic move as a wait of decades comes to an end after these people receive their title deeds, an initiative that has been painstakingly carried out by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. A freehold title deed owner cannot sell out the plot for the first 10 years until and unless the person faces any major crisis. But they will get all clearances necessary for development work on the plot including building their own houses with the title deed in their possession.

Residents of the 119 refugee colonies who will be receiving the title deeds are spread all over the state. There are around 3,500 beneficiaries only from Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24-Parganas. Besides North 24-Parganas, Nadia is another district in South Bengal where there are a large number of people getting benefitted.

Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Malda, North and South Dinajpur are the districts where residents of a large number of refugee colonies are also going to get the freehold title deeds.