WB govt plans to handover freehold land deeds to people residing in 119 refugee colonies

Kolkata, Sep 01: The West Bengal government is planning to handover freehold land title deeds to over 20,000 people residing in 119 refugee colonies of the state, a senior official said on Tuesday.

"For the purpose, the state government is preparing a database and an initial list of around 15,000 residents is ready while another one of around 6,500 people is getting prepared," he said.

"Once the list is complete, it will require the approval of the chief minister after which the date of distribution of the land title deeds by her will be fixed," the senior official said.

In March this year Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had distributed freehold land title deeds to the residents of 94 refugee colonies in the state. She had announced about taking similar measures to distribute freehold land deeds to residents of another 119 refugee colonies.

The entire survey was conducted by officials of the state Land and Land Reforms and Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation department amid the COVID-19 pandemic situation. Of the residents of the 119 refugee colonies around 3,500 beneficiaries are from neighbouring Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas and Nadia districts, he said.

There are a large number of people from Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Malda, Uttar and Dakshin Dinajpur districts, the official added. According to the official, a freehold land title deed owner will not be able to sell the land for the first 10 years.