PATNA: Hours after Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a high-level meeting on issues related to Indo-Nepal border with senior state administrative officers in Purnea, Bihar deputy chief minister Vijay Kumar Sinha announced setting up a special probe committee to look into allegations of encroachment of land by ‘outsiders’ in Kishanganj district.
Sinha, who is also the revenue and land reforms department minister, said that a special committee would be formed to investigate reports of encroachment of land by ‘outsiders’ in Kishanganj district, a part of Seemanchal region. Sinha made the announcement on the concluding day of Budget session of Bihar legislative Assembly on Friday.
JD(U) MLA from Thakurganj Neeraj Agrawal raised the issue of illegal infiltration and encroachment of land belong to local residents by ‘outsiders’. He said that land allotted to the landless from Dalits, ST and Muslims under government’s ‘Bhoodan’ scheme in Dighalbank block of Kishanganj district had been encroached upon by ‘outsiders.’
The MLA claimed that some people from West Bengal’s Malda and Murshidabad districts have ‘purchased’ land of the poor. Kishanganj’s Thakurganj area is strategically sensitive from security point of view. He claimed that 90 per cent of such land has been encroached upon. Ownership of ‘Boodan’ land can not be transferred, according to rule, he added.
Besides Nepal, Seemanchal shares borders with West Bengal and is seen as a gateway to the strategically important Silliguri Corridor, often referred to as the ‘Chicken Neck’.
New strategy formulated
Earlier in the day, Shah chaired a meeting on issues related to the India-Nepal border with senior administrative and police officers in Bihar’s Purnea as a new strategy was made to control suspicious activities, infiltration, and smuggling in the bordering areas.