New Delhi, Jan. 12: Aligarh Muslim University has sought finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s intervention for the eviction of farmers occupying a part of the land where the institution plans to build its centre in Murshidabad.

AMU vice-chancellor P.K. Abdul Azis met Mukherjee, who is also the Lok Sabha member from Murshidabad, a week ago and requested him to talk to chief minister Mamata Banerjee to facilitate the farmers’ eviction.

“It is the state government’s responsibility to clear the land from encroachers who have occupied the land illegally,” said the university’s media adviser, N.A.K. Durrani.

A district official said that after police firing killed two persons during a power theft crackdown in Mograhat, South 24-Parganas, the state government had sent instructions against evicting anyone by force. This was why no action was being taken against the farmers.

The erstwhile Left Front government had transferred a 288-acre plot off the Farakka Barrage near Jangipur to the AMU in 2010. Trouble began recently when the university started building a boundary wall to set up the campus.

Farmers refused to vacate about 50 acres on the ground that they had been growing crops there, stalling the construction of the wall, officials said.

An AMU source said the farmers seemed to have the backing of a political party.

“It’s strange that they did not oppose it when the land was allotted for the campus. With the change in government, they have now started protesting,” the source said.

An AMU official said the farmers’ claim over the land had no basis. He said the Centre had paid compensation to the local people and acquired the land about 35 years ago when the Farakka Barrage was built.

After a decision was taken about the new AMU campus in Murshidabad, the water resources ministry had transferred the land to the Bengal government, which gave it to the university, he said.

“There is no rationale behind the farmers’ claim over the land. Yet, informal negotiations have started with them to sort the issue out,” the official said.

Describing the situation as “very unfortunate”, Durrani, the AMU media adviser, said: “Recently, our vice-chancellor brought the matter to the notice of the Union finance minister as well as the Bengal government.”

The Centre has sanctioned Rs 50 crore for the AMU centre, which has already started functioning out of a temporary campus. The centre offers BA, LLB and MBA courses. The AMU has opened a similar campus at Malappuram in Kerala.