March 1: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has ensured that a forest remains thus, though a section of his own party had willed otherwise.

The forest department last week retrieved 500 bighas in Nadia illegally occupied by 250 settlers for over 50 years.

At Bahadurpur and Palasgachi, 150 km from Calcutta, the residents had grown used to living, cultivating and cattle rearing inside the forest since settling down in 1953. The residents, most of them close to the district CPM brass, had all along resisted efforts to dislodge them.

It is learnt that some senior district CPM leaders had sought the chief minister?s intervention to ensure ?protection for the poor people? threatened with eviction. But Bhattacharjee reportedly refused to oblige his party colleagues in Nadia and asked the forest department to go ahead with their plan.

It took about two weeks for the department to carry out the eviction. Officials are now engaged in fencing the land with police assistance.

About eight years ago, the forest department had attempted to evict the unauthorised settlers from their land. But some of them moved Calcutta High Court. When the court turned down their plea, they moved the Supreme Court. But the apex court upheld the high court?s decision and asked the forest department to recover possession.

J.B. Thapliwal, the principal chief conservator of forests, said in Calcutta his department was determined to oust the encroachers. ?We will also work hard to take possession of forestland occupied illegally by people across Bengal,? Thapliwal said.

But despite the chief minister?s green signal to the eviction, CPM leaders in Naida are still lobbying for the squatters. Rama Biswas, the sabhadhipati of the CPM-controlled zilla parishad, said they have demanded a committee to look into the problems of those evicted.

?Of the 250, some are very poor and we have to think about their future. They have been eking out livelihood by cultivating the land. Now these people are jobless? we can?t sit idle,? said Biswas.

Additional superintendent of police Biswarup Ghosh said a large contingent has been posted in the area to tackle any untoward incident. The forest officials, he added, ?sought our help last week when they evicted the unauthorised settlers and we gave them all sorts of support?.