‘KMC to handle all thika lease applications’

KOLKATA: Mayor Firhad Hakim announced that thika applications will be handled by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) from now while asking the municipal commissioner to ensure quick processing of such applications relating to small spaces in slum areas.

Addressing the press, the Mayor said that a cell for thika is being readied at the KMC headquarters.

“KMC will directly handle all thika issues. A dedicated cell will be set up at the KMC headquarters. Whoever needs thika lease can apply through this cell.

We will process the applications and get the necessary work done from the state government,” he said.Hakim has asked the special municipal commissioner to look into the applications where thika tenancy concerns small spaces inside slums.

“These applications are pending for over a year and need to be processed as soon as possible,” he said.

The state government amended the West Bengal Thika Tenancy (Acquisition and Regulation) Act in 2019 to allow tenants on the land to become lessees.

Several slums in the city are situated on thika land which the government had acquired from zamindars post-independence while allowing the tenants to continue to occupy such lands. The amendment allowed the tenants to become the lessees, thus giving them the right to develop their homes on the thika

lands. It also allowed them to secure bank loans to develop their homes on a small area of land; up to 3 cottahs. In Kolkata, there are about 2000 acres of thika tenancy lands.

Firhad Hakim’s recent announcement also came in the wake of the control of thika lands being transferred to the urban development and municipal affairs (UDMA) department from the land and land reforms department. The UDMA department is led by Hakim who is also the KMC Mayor.