The district land and land reforms department in Jalpaiguri has initiated steps to resolve the long-pending land dispute in the “adverse possession area” of South Berubari in Sadar block of the district by creating two new mouzas for residents living along the Bangladesh border.
In South Berubari’s four villages —Kajaldighi, Chilahati, Baroshoshi and Naotori-Debottar near the Bangladesh border — land deeds and records of residents still mention the Bangladeshi mouza name “Boda”, inherited from pre-partition records. These four villages are referred to as “adverse possession area”.
Haaris Rasheed, the district land and land reforms officer (DL&LRO), said land records and ownership documents would be issued to residents of the four villages of South Berubari after the new mouzas are formally created.
“We need more time to settle the land issue in the adverse possession area. Fresh land sheets and mouza maps for the areas will reach us from the office of the director of land revenue survey of the state. Based on those details, we will create two new mouzas and issue the necessary documents to land owners concerned,” he said.
The administration now plans to replace those references with Indian mouza names before issuing updated land records to them.
Sources in the administration said that during the process, they would collect consent letters from landowners to acquire land for the BSF’s border infrastructure — fences and roads.
In these villages, a stretch of 15.5km of the total 19km open border is entangled in land disputes.
“Residents are ready to provide land, but unless they get the land records in their names, they would not be entitled to compensation. That is why we want the administration to update the records and then acquire land from them,” said Saradaprasad Das, joint secretary of the Dakshin Berubari Suraksha Committee, an organisation of the bordering villagers.