New Delhi, Feb 10 (PTI) BJP MP Samik Bhattacharya on Tuesday raised in the Rajya Sabha the issue of encroachment of Kolkata Port land and said the area has publicly been referred to as “mini Pakistan” by the city’s mayor, a remark that led to uproar in the House.
Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Shantanu Thakur admitted that a large portion of the Kolkata Port’s land has been encroached by people associated with the ruling TMC government and the port is finding it difficult to get back the land.
While TMC raised strong objections to Bhattacharya’s reference to the area as “mini Pakistan”, they created uproar in the House and protested while standing in the aisle.
Asking his supplementary question, Bhattacharya said Kolkata Port is the single largest land owner in the city of Kolkata with nearly 4,000 acres.
“It is a matter of record that around 170 acres of prime portland is under encroachment and illegal occupation.
“A substantial portion of this encroachment is located in the Garden Reach, Metiabruz and Khidirpur area which has been publicly referred to as ‘mini Pakistan’ by the mayor of Kolkata,” he said, leading to “shame, shame” slogans from the treasury benches.
“My question is very clear, whether it is the land of Indian Railways, whether it is the land of port, whether it is the land of DVC, or Farakka barrage…everywhere encroachment is going on. TMC’s Kolkata mayor is publicly calling it a ‘mini Pakistan’, they are encroaching upon public land,” the BJP member said.
Responding to his question, Thakur said, “What the MP has said is right… people there have encroached all the place. But, our port authority has filed a case in court to get this land released.” “The land is being held by force and we are unable to get the (encroached) land vacated,” the minister said, amid strong protests from TMC members.
Thakur later confirmed Bhattacharya’s remark, saying, “This is true that the chairman (mayor) of Kolkata raised the ‘mini Pakistan’ word in front of the media. There is a document, we can show that, sir.” When Chairman C P Radhakrishnan asked NCP-SP’s Fauzia Khan to ask her next supplementary question, she urged him to expunge “mini Pakistan” from the records.
“I have objection to “mini Pakistan”. I urge you to expunge the word… You cannot call citizens of India as those of Pakistan,” she said, as the chairman asked her to make her point instead.
Later, John Brittas (CPI-M) said he wanted to give a fee advice to Bhattacharya. “If he says it is ‘mini Pakistan’, Islamabad will demand that territory. Please don’t make that blunder,” Brittas said, as the chairman asked him to focus on his question and not distract. PTI SKC SKC ANU ANU
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