A turf war has broken out between two departments of the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government over 1,500 acres — part of which falls under the East Calcutta Wetlands — on the eastern fringes of the city.

The fisheries department has revoked an earlier ban on sale and purchase of land and wetlands in the zone, but the land and land reforms department has contested the move claiming the fisheries department had no right to issue such an order.

“We had earmarked around 1,500 acres to promote pisciculture. Around seven months ago, we had imposed a ban on sale and purchase of land in nine mouzas. But it was coming in the way of transfer of land even outside the earmarked area and so we withdrew the ban,” said fisheries minister Kiranmoy Nanda.

The move has not gone down well with the land and land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah. “The area does not belong to the fisheries department… Issuing such notices is none of its business,” said Mollah.

According to government records, the fisheries department had identified the 1,500-acre area in 1966, but it never made any attempt to acquire it. Around seven months ago, when the department submitted a proposal for acquisition, the land and land reforms department turned it down.

This is not the first face-off between the two departments. In the past two years, the CMDA’s Water Park project and a real-estate venture off the EM Bypass were stalled after the two departments clashed over territorial rights.

But the latest spat over the 1,500 acres — part of which is protected under the Ramsar Convention — has locked in the green lobby.

“A move like this will encourage realtors to grab land and wetlands,” said Sachidulal Ghosh, joint secretary, Jalabhumi Banchao Committee.

As the two departments fight over control, the East Calcutta Wetlands Authority, which monitors wetlands, remains clueless. “I am not aware of the decision taken by the fisheries department,” said M.L. Meena, environment secretary and member secretary, East Calcutta Wetlands Authority.