West Bengal govt to file FIR against Railways in Dankuni

West Bengal government has decided to take action against the Railways for allegedly filling a 137-acre water body for a project at Dankuni, near here.

“We have asked our officials to lodge an FIR against the Railways at the Dankuni police station,” Fisheries Minister Kiranmoy Nanda told reporters.

Nanda said following a complaint from local MLA Bhaktaram Pan, a team of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture Marketing and Fisheries departments visited the site yesterday and found that most of the water body had been filled up. “This is punishable under section 17-A of West Bengal Inland Fisheries Act, 1984. The law clearly states that whoever fills a water body for some reason, must create another water body of similar size in the area,” Nanda said.

The Standing Committee chairman Chowdhury Hidayatulla said that during the visit, as many as 166 families told him that they were forcibly evicted from the project site, while 66 fishermen complained that they were being deprived of livelihood although they had fishing lease at the water body till 2012.

Nanda said earlier his department had served notice to the Metro Railway authorities for filling up a water body during its extension to Garia. “After getting the notice, the Metro officials apologised and told us that they would follow the rules”, he said. The government's move comes at a time when it is facing criticism from Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party Trinamool Congress for allegedly forcibly acquiring land at Rajarhat for a township project at a low price from farmers and selling it at a premium.