Gautam Deb, a former state minister and two-time Trinamul MLA of the Dabgram-Fulbari Assembly seat, admitted on Friday that he could not retrieve all illegally encroached government plots in his erstwhile constituency.

“During my tenure as the MLA and a state minister, I could recover a number of government plots that were encroached in the Dabgram-Fulbari area with the support of three other ministers of the state cabinet. After recovering these plots, we built boundary walls to prevent further encroachment,” Deb, who is the mayor of Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC), said.

“However, there are many more parcels of government land, which remained encroached and it was not possible to recover all those. We had taken some initiatives but eventually these plots of land could not be freed,” he added.

The issue of land grabbing in Dabgram-Fulbari, an area in Jalpaiguri district that comprises four panchayats on the outskirts of Siliguri and 14 wards of SMC, was flagged by chief minister Mamata Banerjee last month.

At an administrative meeting in Nabanna, Mamata seemed furious about the activities of land grabbers and had ticked off Deb. “Gautam, you can’t evade your responsibilities. I will ensure that stern steps are taken against groups that are grabbing government and private land,” she had said.

Mamata’s disgruntlement prompted the administration and the police to swing into action. Debasish Pramanik and Gautam Goswami, the TMC president and vice-president of Dabgram-Fulbari, were arrested and later expelled from the party for their involvement in land grabbing. Pramanik is in judicial custody while Goswami is in police custody.

Deb was elected from Dabgram-Fulbari in the 2009 and 2014 Assembly polls. During his tenure, he also served as the minister for the north Bengal development department and tourism department.

In an administrative survey, it was found that several TMC leaders of Siliguri and Jalpaiguri had illegally occupied government land and even built resorts and other properties, particularly near Gajoldoba of Rajganj block in Jalpaiguri district. Gajoldoba is also known for Bhorer Alo, the largest tourism hub developed by the state government.

“We are identifying government land, which was encroached. Some patches of land have been recovered and the exercise is in progress,” said a source in the Jalpaiguri district administration.

Deb, while trying to drive home the point that he had made efforts to clear encroachments from government land, elaborated on the new projects that have come up in Dabgram-Fulbari during his tenure. They include the Bengal Safari Park, Uttarkanya, the branch secretariat of the state government, and several educational institutions.

“The safari park helped in preventing illegal deforestation on the fringes of the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary. Also, the fire station at Salugara was built on a
government plot that was earlier encroached upon,” said the mayor.