The plot meant for the NBSTC depot in Kaliaganj. Picture by Nantu Dey

Raiganj, Nov. 20: The Kaliaganj Municipality has sent an ultimatum to the North Bengal State Transport Corporation (NBSTC) to return three-bighas of land which it had been given 16 years ago by the CPM-led civic body to set up a bus depot.

The current Congress chairman of the municipality, Arun Dey Sarkar, said not only had the NBSTC failed to make use of the land, it had also not been able to run buses directly from the town.

“We have been in power for the past 15 years and we have written several times to the NBSTC to construct a depot and a bus terminus there and they have never bothered to reply. We remained silent keeping in mind the interests of the people of Kaliaganj,” he said.

The municipal chairman said the NBSTC had never paid any rent to the civic body. He added that the CPM-led board had handed over the land without a proper agreement on its use.

“We have now taken up a plan to construct a market complex on that plot. Why should we buy land when we have a plot that is our own and lying unutilised? We have written to the NBSTC and given them two months to start work on a terminus, failing which we will start work on the market without giving them any intimation,” Dey Sarkar said.

Sources at the NBSTC said after getting the land 16 years ago a ticket counter had been opened and daily two buses ran between Kaliaganj and Calcutta. Two years ago, the counter was shut down and the buses were withdrawn. Currently, a few broken down buses are parked on the plot.

Santosh Ghosh of Sree Colony in Kaliaganj said he, like many others, had to travel 25km to Raiganj to catch buses to either Siliguri or Calcutta.

The divisional manager of the NBSTC in Raiganj, Subir Deb Roy, said he had no knowledge of any order on the construction of a bus depot or a terminus at Kaliaganj.

District magistrate Sukumar Bhattachayya said he was aware of the NBSTC occupation of the Kaliaganj land. “I will get in touch with the NBSTC for a solution,” he said.