West Bengal government in fresh land row

Source: Shanthanubh’s Weblog

Rajarhat Fiasco

Land mafias are eyeing on the vast water bodies of RajarhatNewtown.Photo:Shantanu Devnath

Vedic village incident once again proves that land mafias in Marxist ruled Bengal are enjoying tremendous political patronage.Bengal politics is hotting up over the issue of forceful land grabing of Vedic Village authority by co-ercing village people.On August 23,an angry mob torched the luxury resort in the eastern fringes of Calcutta over the issue of violence in a nearby football ground.Police consficated large number of arms and ammunition from the Vedic Village complex.They blamed the resort authority to patronize and shelter the main accused Gaffer Molla,a local village mafia and his gang.The illegal land grabbing of Vedic Village authority with the help of Gaffer Molla. Rajarhat and it’s adjoining area New Town are growing fast as residential and commercial areas.The real estate developers who are investing heavily are sometimes take the help of land mafias to acquire lands from villagers.New Town has already turned into an IT hub with several well known companies having their centers.

Vedic Village: A long history of brutality behind the final destruction

Source: Sanhati

Recently, Vedic Village, an upscale resort sprawling out in Rajarhat (near Kolkata), was torched down by angry villagers. This vent of public anger was the culmination of a history of brutal land acquisition in the area, perpetrated since the 1990’s by the CPI(M) and brought to fruition by armies of local terrors like Gaffar Mollah, Ruidas Mandal, and others. The following articles trace the recent history of this real estate-Party-musclemen nexus that finally led to the destruction of Vedic Village.

1. A history of the brutal Rajarhat land acquisition – booklet by CPIML(Liberation), translated by Santanu Sengupta, Sanhati.

2. Short introduction – Partho Sarathi Ray, Sanhati

3. Vedic Vultures – A hard look at the realtor-musclemen-CPIM nexus in Rajarhat by Sankar Ray

4. Left out of dazzle & delights, villagers may have struck back – An initial TOI report, August 25 2009

5. Biplab Biswas arrested – the link between Vedic Realty and local tough Gaffar Molla – TOI, August 27 2009

6. Souring of the urban-industrial vision: Gated communities want stronger gates – Reaction of realtors

7. Land cell goes against norms: Abdur Rezzak Mollah under the scanner – The Telegraph, August 31 2009

A history of the brutal Rajarhat land acquisition, Bengal’s new IT hub

Source: Sanhati

By Santanu Sengupta, Sanhati. Translated from Rajarhaat – Uponogorir Ontorale Arto Manuher Kanna

Rajarhaat, near Kolkata, is Bengal’s new IT hub and a hotspot for real estate investment. Within no time Rajarhat has become the hotbed of real estate investments with companies like DLF, Keppel Land, Unitech group, Singapore-based Ascendas, Vedic Realty, etc. coming in. Land prices have soared. The first phase of DLF’s Rs 280 crore (Rs 2.80 billion) IT project has been operational since 2005 and a second IT park is on the cards. Wipro, Infosys, IBM – all the major IT houses are in operation here, on subsidized lands. A wireless hub is in the offing.

Contrasting with Singur-Nandigram, official state versions have given the picture that Rajarhat’s land acquisition from the mid 1990’s onwards has been peaceful.

This is an acount of the immense bloodshed that lay behind this acquisition, in a decade when the civil society and media wasn’t interested.

Assam: ULFA cadre killed in fake encounter

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Kokrajhar, Sept. 5: The family of an Ulfa militant who was shot dead by security personnel last night today accused the army and police of torture before killing him.

Pronoy Roy, a “sergeant major” of the outfit’s 709 battalion, was allegedly killed in an encounter with security forces at Kalipukri Tilapara under Kokrajhar police station around 10pm. Contesting the claim, Pronoy’s family alleged that he was tortured after being picked up from the house where he was taking shelter before security forces shot him dead.

“The body bore cut marks all over, inflicted with sharp weapons. That proves he was tortured before being killed. There is no doubt that he was a militant, but one should not be treated this way,” Pronoy’s elder bother, Pani, said.

Lalgarh: PCPA leader killed in police custody

Durgapur, Sept. 5: A member of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities, arrested for his suspected Maoist links, hanged himself in a Bankura court lock-up today.

Thirty-year-old Shibu Pratihar, who was the president of the committee in Sarenga, was arrested on August 29 from his Makarkol house.

Shibu was brought to the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court in Khatra, about 260km from Calcutta, around 10am today from the nearby Sarenga police station.

He was taken in a prison van and escorted by five armed policemen, one of them an assistant sub-inspector. He was kept in a lock-up on the ground floor in the court.

Shibu sought permission from the guards outside to go to the toilet, which is attached to the lock-up. A policeman took off his handcuffs and escorted him to the toilet. When Shibu entered, the cop locked the door from outside. Shibu locked the door from inside.

“Our men became suspicious after hearing water flowing from the tap inside for about 15 minutes. When they knocked, there was no response. They broke the door open and found Shibu hanging from the exhaust fan. The lungi he had been wearing was tied round his neck. He was rushed to the Khatra subdivisional hospital where he was declared dead on arrival,” said a police officer.