West Bengal, 13 July (H.S.): A Trinamool councillor who arrived with his team to forcibly occupy a government land at Subhash Colony area of Baharampur Municipality in Murshidabad district on Saturday was forced to leave the area due to opposition from the locals. According to local sources, about two government buildings have been vacant for a long time in the Subhash Colony-Ghoshpada area of Ward No. 22 of Baharampur Municipality. Every year, local residents organize many small events besides Durga Puja and Kali Puja at that vacant place. Also, the youth of the area play games at that place. Allegedly on Saturday morning, Trinamool Congress councillor of Ward No. 22 Debashish (Sonu) Gwala went to enclose the vacant place with some people. But due to opposition from the local people, the councillor was forced to leave the area. Ashok Khan, a resident of the area, said, That vacant government land has been there for about 60-70 years. The Ghoshpada Mandir Samiti has been organizing Durga Puja run by women at that vacant place for the last seven years. The puja has received the approval of the state government. Apart from that, Kali Puja and many other events are held in that small ground. Local children also play in that ground. This morning, local Trinamool councillor Sonu Gwala suddenly came with some people and started encroaching the land.''
Another resident, Rinki Pramanik said, For the last few days, the construction of a temple has started on the vacant land. But the Trinamool councillor is obstructing that work. We have heard that he is planning to set up a party office here. She said, We stopped the Trinamool councillor from trying to encroach the government land. After this, he threatened us not to let us do anything on that vacant land.''
Trinamool councillor Debashish Gwala denied the allegations against him. He said, Some residents of that area have been encroaching government land for a long time and building garages there and charging rent. I came to know that a construction work has started at that place recently, so I went to check the situation.
Baharampur Municipality Chairman Nadugopal Mukherjee said, After the instructions of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the work of making an information-based map of where and how much government land is there in the Baharampur Municipality area and which land is encroached, has been started. The councillors visited the area this morning to survey the works. Some people are spreading misinformation about the whole matter.
Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey / Indrani Sarkar
