Forty families who started building their homes under the state government’s Bangla Awas Yojana were asked by the railways on Monday to demolish the underconstruction houses coming up on the railway land.

Sources said the Mamata Banerjee government had enlisted the 40 families for the financial grant of ₹1.2 lakh to build the homes. The families, who live in the Taltala Colony near the Alipurduar Junction station in Vivekananada 1 panchayat of Alipurduar 1 block, received the first instalment of ₹60,000 and started building their houses.

“I have spent around ₹50,000 of the funds and today (on Monday), railway officials came and told us to demolish the semi-finished houses or else, they will do it on their own,” said Raju Mandal, a rickshaw puller.

“We have been staying on the land for years. We don’t know what to do if our (half-finished) houses are demolished. We won’t receive the second tranche now,” he added.

Asked why they were building permanent houses on the railway land, Mandal said he hadn’t thought the railways would order the demolition.

A team of officials from the Alipurduar division of the Northeast Frontier Railway, along with RPF personnel, reached the colony. They brought earth movers and workers to pull down the structures.

The under-construction houses would be demolished immediately, they said. The residents panicked and approached the officials seeking some time. The officials served notices on them and left the spot.

“We don’t understand how they were allowed by the state government to build house illegally on railway land and that too, with financial assistance from the government. We cannot let such permanent construction happen. They have been served with notices so that they demolish the constructions at the earliest. Or else, we will wait for some days and take appropriate steps,” said Amarjeet Gautam, the divisional railway manager of Alipurduar

With the railway move, questions have been raised about the house-to-house survey conducted by the administration before finalising the list of beneficiaries of the housing scheme.

“The guidelines say people who own land but do not have concrete houses are eligible for the scheme. How can the names of people who live on the land owned by railways be included? They have no right to the land,” said a source in the administration.

Alipurduar subdivisional officer Debabrata Roy said a probe would be conducted.

“We will conduct an inquiry to find out how these people were included in the list of beneficiaries. Also, a survey will be conducted to find out whether there are more such beneficiaries on the list,” said Roy.