Siliguri, Sept. 1: At a time when demand for land is increasing exponentially in pace with the expansion of the town, the land sharks are out to make a killing: they are buying land left, right and centre, and in the process, artificially jacking up the price.

In the past five years, the prices of land in Sevoke Road, Eastern Bypass and Fulbari have gone up by over 200 per cent. And businessmen buy most of the lands in these areas as investment so that they can profit from it later. ?These people operate as veritable land mafia and pose problems for genuine buyers,? said Biswajit Das, the secretary of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in North Bengal (Focin).

The price of land at Baikuntapur along the Eastern Bypass used to be around Rs 25,000 per cottah till around two to three years ago but now it is being quoted at Rs 3 lakh per cottah. ?The practice is retarding the rate of development. They are not making any productive use of the lands but are holding on to them to make profit out of them later,? said Das.

Das cited the problems encountered by an investor, Howrah-based Sandeep Ghosh, who is interested in setting up a sponge-iron unit at Phasidewa. ?After we brought the land, some people tried to stop us from building a boundary wall around the plot,? said Sharma, the managing director of Hill Steelwool Pvt Ltd. ?Such incidents would definitely drive away prospective investors.?

Asok Bhattacharya, the urban development minister, who is also the local MLA, has vowed to come down hard on the ?mafia? even if some of them allegedly have links with the CPM. The Focin secretary, however, suggests that the best way to rein in the landsharks would be to put a stop to the registration of such lands. Dilip Agarwal, a prominent builder, agreed: ?That appears to be the best way to solve the problem.?

The escalation of the land price has also been fuelled by housing boom the town has been witnessing, especially since people from the Northeast, Sikkim and even Nepal are relocating here. ?People from outside are willing to pay any amount for a piece of land here, which encourages the mafia to jack up the prices,? said the Focin secretary.

In some cases the land sharks are also known to duplicate land documents such as, mutation papers, besides forcing genuine owners to part with the power of attorney of their land.