NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) data has revealed that out of the total 4,376 enemy properties in West Bengal, over 500 of them are encroached by illegal occupants and the authorities initiated eviction proceedings only in cases of 49 such assets so far.
MHA officials said that the government has recently conducted a survey in West Bengal and it was found that there are 4,376 enemy properties in the states of which 4,320 were left by Pakistani nationals and 56 were that of Chinese, who left during 1962 war.
“Based on the survey conducted so far, encroachment has been found in 536 enemy properties situated in West Bengal and so far, 49 eviction proceedings have been initiated,” a senior MHA official said, adding that out of these two are situated at 78- A&B Shakespear Sarani and the rest are in South Tangra Road, Kolkata.
The official went on to add that no enemy property in the state has been sold in the past three years. “But, lease rents o he tune of `69.72 lakh have been collected during the last three years in respect of such properties in the state,” he said.
The District Magistrates (DMs) act as an ex-officio Deputy Custodian of such properties and they are responsible for ‘preservation and maintenance’, and act as Estate Officers. “Therefore, under the law they are authorised to take action against illegal occupants under the Enemy Property Rules, 2015,” the official said.
The maximum number of 1,728 enemy properties is situated in Murshidabad district, followed by 711 in Coochbehar, 625 in Purba Bardhaman, 427 in Birbhum and 100 in Alipurduar. All of these were left by Pakistani nationals.
Among those enemy properties, which were left by Chinese nationals include 19 in Kolkata, 17 in Kalimpong, 13 in Darjeeling, 5 in Jalpaiguri and 2 in Alipurduar, according to the MHA data.
Giving details of the procedure of disposing off the enemy properties, the official said, “In terms of guidelines framed in 2018, such assets are sold through e-auction after carrying out valuation by a committee under the chairmanship of the DM of a district, where the property is situated and based on this the central government decides the manner in which they are to be dealt with.”