Illegal houses in Digha. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, March 10: The residents of Digha and Rajiv Nagar will have to pay to get their houses regularised. Chief minister Nitish Kumar made it clear today.

“There is absolutely no other way. Take it or leave it,” Nitish said, intervening in a call attention raised by the Patna JD (U) MLA, Punam Devi. Illegal colonies have emerged in Patna constituency from 1973.

The chief minister reminded the citizens opposing the penalty imposed on them for regularising the illegal colonies that they had lost the case in the apex court.

“We have passed the Digha Acquired Settlement Act, 2010 to offer a solution to those who have constructed homes. The money they pay will be given to the people who could not take possession of their allotted land,” Nitish said, indicating that the government had no intention of paying the land allottees from its own pocket.

Nitish said everybody, including the local MLA, should help in creating an atmosphere for a smooth transaction.

The Bihar State Housing Board acquired around 1,024 acres of prime land in 1973 from landowners with the settlement amount of over Rs 17 crore. But several landowners were not given the compensation amount.

Subsequently they resold their plots or constructed houses on them unlawfully. Illegal colonies sprung up in the area in the 1980s.

According to the government statistics, illegal constructions have come up over 600 acres of land.

The board won its legal battle in the Supreme Court after three decades but could not give possession of the plots to around 10,000 persons who had been allotted land.

Attempts to bulldoze the illegal houses in 1990s faced stiff resistance from the inhabitants of the illegal houses.

In April last year, the Assembly and the Legislative Council passed the Digha Acquired Land Settlement Bill, 2010. It was seen as a move to appease the “powerful” residents of the area, acknowledged an NDA stronghold.

According to the act, the allottees will get their money back with eight per cent with compound interest calculated from the time they deposited it for the land.

Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who piloted the bill, said the government had taken this decision out of sympathy. As these houses did not come up in a day, the state government cannot raze them.

Legal experts, however, pointed out that the act would open a Pandora’s box. It would lead to demand for authorisation of other illegal colonies.

Although the government has passed the bill, it has not yet issued the notification. Nitish said a series of talks were being held with the house owners, allottees and other experts to finalise the way to implement the act at the ground-level.

Patna High Court directed the state government this February to decide within three months the date for issuing notification for the enforcement of the Digha Acquired Land Settlement Act, 2010, or repeal it. Residents of the locality are apprehensive about the penalty to be slapped on them for regularising their houses.

“We have no objection to paying money. But the question is how much. If you take 8 per cent compound interest for 30 years, the amount will become huge. The government should have done this earlier,” said Vijay Kumar, a retired government employee who has constructed his house in Rajiv Nagar.