Civic body, police at loggerheads in Malda

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Oct. 11: The English Bazaar civic body chief, Mr Narendranath Tiwari, today claimed that not just the boundary wall, the entire construction of Rathbari police out post and its annex building was unauthorised according to the municipality records. The Malda superintendent of police, Mr DK Mondal, however, has termed the construction legal. The row over alleged encroachment of municipality land by the Malda police has affected the relation between the Malda police and the civic body officials. A meeting was held yesterday between police officials and the civic body chief over the issue. It may be recalled that alleging encroachment, the civic body had recently prevented the police from constructing the boundary wall of the Rathbari police out post along the Station Road here. Though the police had earlier agreed to follow the alignment fixed by the municipal overseers for the construction of the boundary wall, the then English Bazaar civic body chief and senior CPI-M leader, Mr Pravat Acharya, claimed that he had objected to the construction when he was the chairman of the municipality. "As far as I know, the land on which the police out post was constructed was a vest land," he said.Mr Acharya, who is now a CPI-M councillor of the EBM, today suggested the civic body chief, Mr Narendranath Tiwari, to write a letter to the land and land reforms department seeking the status of the land and its records. Speaking to reporters, the civic body chief, Mr Tiwai, said: "After examining the records of municipality, we can say that the entire construction of the police out post was unauthorised. No plan was submitted to the civic body and there is no record of mutation of the land." Similarly, another former chairman of the civic body and present English Bazaar MLA, Mr KN Choudhury, there is no question of municipal records as the land was disputed. "Police have grabbed the land and are not paying taxes to the municipality," said a senior municipality official. The Malda SP, Mr Mondal, however claimed that the land (.67 acre) was owned by the police. "The then district magistrate had acquired the land and handed it over to the police," Mr Mondal, said. "I admit that we do not have sufficient papers to prove our claim. I will show whatever papers we have to the senior police officials," Mr Mondal, added. Mr Mondal said there was no need to take permission from municipality for the construction of the police out post because it was a government building.