KMDA to take back lands of owners who have not 'used' them
Kolkata: The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) has imposed a fine on 700 owners who have not set up any structure on their plots which they received several years ago.
If the owners fail to pay the penalty, KMDA will take back the land. The plots are situated in New Town, Kasba, Durgapur, and Siliguri and their present value will be several crores of rupees.
The land was given to set up residential buildings and factories to the owners nearly two decades ago. It may be mentioned that the erstwhile Left Front government had distributed lands without any advertisement to many VIPs and industrialists at throwaway prices. The VIPs and industrialists kept the lands without utilising them. They also did not pay the lease rent.
Firhad Hakim, the state Urban Development minister, held a high-level meeting with senior officials of the Urban Development and the KMDA where it was decided that first fines would be imposed on the owners failing which the lands will be taken back by the KMDA. After its formation in 1972, the KMDA developed many areas under the Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) which includes Kolkata, Howrah, North and South-24 Parganas, Hooghly up to Bansberia. The KMDA has started taking stock of the lands that have not been used in these areas for decades.
Senior officials of the Urban Development department said the amount of fines that will be imposed on the owners has not yet been decided. In the past, attempts were taken to recover the lands from owners who have not used them but the exercise was never carried out. The lands thus, recovered will be used for some other purpose. The KMDA had virtually become a party office of the CPI(M) during the Left Front regime. Almost all the CPI(M) leaders in the state had got plots in different areas under the KMDA's jurisdiction.
Even in Salt Lake, the KMDA had allotted flats to CPI(M) leaders without any advertisement.
Urban development officials said: "Finding 700 owners on whom notices have been served is just the tip of the iceberg. A list of such owners will soon be prepared and then action will be taken."
