2.3 History of the study region – a socialist and political view

2.3 History of the study region – a socialist and political view

The north-eastern peripheral regions of Kolkata is a region of various extremes. The high end housing, the IT parks and commercial complexes, hotels, shopping malls, entertainment complexes and convention centres on one hand. On the other hand, informal settlements, urban villages and vacant lands lined this region. Moreover, the regions of New Town and Rajarhat which is being promoted and developed to provide more housing to Kolkata’s middle class population, is also turning out to be the destination for the urban poor. The urban poor working in the neighbouring regions like Salt Lake and New Town, are mostly using informal methods, either directly or indirectly, to secure their accommodation here.

Studies related to this region have been related predominantly to the logic of formal planned development on one hand versus urban informality on the other. Ratoola Kundu in her paper on “Examining gray areas of urban development” posed several questions regarding this planned-unplanned aspect and the formal-informal nexus in Rajarhat. One of the first questions related to this overall region, included the location for the new township of New Town. Other questions also comprised of whether the urban poor were getting integrated or excluded in this scenario. Also, with respect to the formal-informal context, the exact meaning of this informality was questioned. Thus, through her research, urban informality has emerged as a mode of urbanization that is not just restricted to the urban poor, but along with formal means of urban development, the poor are getting spatially excluded to an extent (Kundu, 2009).

The overall history of this region has been a very dark one. This regions had been socially and politically infamous due to certain issues, which had not been showcased by the local media in West Bengal due to political reasons. A snapshot of this regions’ history is as follows –

- Land Acquisition process in 1995: To set up Rajarhat and New Town, the government used the old colonial system used during the British rule to acquire lands. The Land Acquisition Act (1894) was enacted to acquire the 21 Mouzas of land. Thus, 7000 hectares of agricultural land and water bodies in 21 Mouzas came under acquisition and the process was started in 1999 under the Act. According to estimates, there were approximately 2.5 lakh people residing in the area who were either evicted or were otherwise adversely affected. A total

of 3075 hectares of land under Rajarhat New Town Project was made available partly through land acquisition and partly through direct purchase from the respective owners of the land (Sengupta, 2008).

- Land-grab and terror: The local leaders and anti-social elements supported by the then ruling party, Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI (M) inflicted terror in the land grabbing process. The goons associated with this party inflicted cases of violence and terror in the villages, especially in Tarulia,

Thakdari, Mahishgot, Mahishbathan, Kochpukur and Jodthbhim villages, which then fell under the Mahishbathan Gram Panchayat and the neighbouring Gram panchayats (Sengupta, 2008).

- Agitation by the poor people: After the instances of land grab, terror and oppression faced by the poor people, there was a section of the poor people who went against the powerful. The people made committees namely the ‘Rajarhat

Krishiraksha Committee’ or the ‘Save Rajarhat Farmers Committee’. The other committee formed by the people was the ‘Mahishbathan Jibikachyuta Bekar

Samity’ which constituted of the people who were rendered jobless by the land acquisition process. This committee had approximately 250 members, who joined together to get their land and livelihood back (Sengupta, 2008).

- Lack of support from TMC: Apart from the then ruling party CPI (M), the prominent rival of the CPI (M) was the Trinamool Congress (TMC). The oppressed poor people who had lost their land, hoped to get some support from the TMC. However, to their dismay, the TMC leaders collaborated with the

CPI(M) workers as trade partners and became engaged in the syndicate business. In West Bengal, syndicate is a racket within the real estate business, where unemployed men backed by the ruling party use violence to force contractors into buying inferior building materials from them at a premium. This includes supplying of materials, construction business and contracting work related to buildings (Sengupta, 2008).

- Land values and corruption: The lands that were acquired were actually farm lands that were very fertile in character, and the primary occupation in those lands was farming and fishing. Thus, the land value of those lands differed according to the nature and the location of the land. Certain mouzas like

Mahisbathan, Mahisgot, are high valued land with INR 14000 per katha whereas the low valued lands range around INR 7000 per katha. The sad thing about this entire land values was the sheer inequality in terms of payment received. While the farmers were paid only between 5000 to 6000 Rupees per katha, the same land was being sold by the government to the businessmen at around 6 lakh Rupees per katha. Along with the businessmen, the promoters and the developers were also making hefty profits of 1.5 to 2 crore rupees (Sengupta, 2008).

Therefore, alongside the historical perspective, a key question arises from the aspect of land prices, is that the effect the land prices have on the developments in the region. Does the increasing land prices in one region have an influence on the development patterns in the surrounding regions, by causing unplanned and sporadic developments?