Land grabbed from Sandeshkhali villagers be returned immediately: DYFI leader Minakshi Mukherjee

KOLKATA: DYFI West Bengal state secretary Minakshi Mukherjee on Saturday demanded that land grabbed from villagers in Sandeshkhali region of North 24 Parganas district be returned immediately.

Mukherjee, who reached river-bounded Sandeshkhali using a detour to avoid detection by the administration, was stopped by the police and taken to Sandeshkhali ferry ghat on the banks of River Kalagachi.

''We want the administration to immediately take steps to give back agricultural land of the villagers, which were grabbed by TMC leaders Shajahan Sheikh, Shiba Prasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar and were turned into water bodies for fish farming,'' she said.

She claimed that people want the arrest and prosecution of Sheikh, Hazra, Sardar and also some police personnel who allegedly did not pay heed to complaints against these TMC leaders by the affected villagers.

''I have been told that I cannot move around since prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC are in force in the area,'' Mukherjee, the leader of CPI(M)'s youth wing in the state, told reporters at Sandeshkhali.

She said that while ruling party leaders were being allowed to move around Sandeshkhali, opposition leaders were being stopped from interacting with the affected villagers.

''Ministers Sujit Bose and Partha Bhowmick are from the same party as Shajahan Sheikh,'' she said, while refusing to leave the area.

Bose and Bhowmick visited Sandeshkhali on Saturday and went around some villages.

''I have come here as the state's irrigation minister and not as a political leader,'' Bhowmick said, reacting to Mukherjee's charge.

The DYFI leader asked why lands snatched from the villagers were not returned at the state government's Duare Sarkar programme held regularly at various places in the state with the aim of bringing government services to the doorsteps of people.