Bengal government tries again to get back Maidan land

Efforts to acquire land have put the West Bengal government in trouble a number of times in the past. This time, it has entered into a renewed tussle with the armed forces to take over almost 1,000 acres of land — popularly known as the Maidan — in the heart of Kolkata.

A delegation from the state, led by Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty, met Defence Minister AK Antony last week and demanded that the Maidan — which comprises the Brigade Parade ground, a market and Shaheed Minar areas — be handed over to the state. It is currently under the ownership of the Army.

Chakraborty said, “We have a plan to beautify the entire place and restore the heritage structures. We also want the race course, which occupies a large part of the Maidan, so that it can be converted for use for other sports activities.”

Top sources in the defence ministry, however, said this might be difficult as the army was not in favour of a transfer of ownership of the ground to the state.

“In this ministry, officials can’t take any decision without taking the armed forces into confidence. This has been a long tradition of the defence ministry,” said a source.

The state government’s efforts to get the Maidan under its control are not new. Last year, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had written to Antony on this. But this time, the delegation came to meet Antony with some vintage documents that claim that the Maidan was a property of the Kolkata police before the Army took possession by “push and pull” methods. In a renewed ploy, the state government expects the Centre to give it the ownership of at least the part containing the market and the central bus stop of the city.

Almost a decade ago, the state government had wanted the possession of around 45 acres of land to build a multi-level bus terminus. The army and the defence ministry had outrightly rejected the demand. This time, Chakraborty promised that no bus terminus would be developed and the entire area would be used for beautification of the city.

Calling the current status of the Maidan as “national wastage”, Chakraborty wrote in his memorandum to Antony, “There is a big Race Course in Kolkata that occupies a large area of the Maidan and the common people cannot accept that it is a sport for the common people. At one time, it might have been a popular game among people who would participate in a big way for gambling to earn money. (Now), the use of Turf Club for races is not more than 8-10 times in a year. It is nothing but a farce or a luxury for the society of Kolkata.”