Santiniketan (West Bengal): As Nobel Laureate economiste Amartya Sen’s tussle with Visva Bharati over eviction notice reached its peak, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has asked her Legislators to go for a sit-in outside Pratichi in protest against the eviction.
Visva-Bharati University authorities have served a notice to Sen to vacate 13 decimals of land by May 6 or within 15 days of the publication of its last order on April 19.
The University also threatened to use force to evict Sen if he did not vacate the land on his own.
Sen inhabits his ancestral house Pratichi during his stay at Santiniketan in Bolpur town of West Bengal’s Birbhum district. The parcel of 13 decimals in the Pratichi premises has been a bone of contention between Sen and the university in recent times.
While Visva-Bharati has claimed that Sen has been illegally occupying the land, the world renowned academician has time and again said that he was the rightful owner.
The notice said, “Amartya Kumar Sen and all concerned persons are liable to be evicted from the said premises, if need be, by use of such force as may be necessary.”
“It is decided that 13 decimals of land having the dimension of 50 ft x 111 ft in the north-west corner of the scheduled premises is to be recovered from him,” the notice added.
“Thus he can lawfully occupy 1.25 acres of land only, as lesses (for the residual period of lease) in the scheduled premises. He does not have the authority to occupy 1.38 acres of land in the scheduled premises,” the notice further stated.
In the Cabinet meeting, Banerjee instructed the Legislators to sit peacefully in front of Sen’s house and not budge an inch if Visva Bharati authorities try to forcibly enforce the eviction.
Banerjee has been with the Nobel laureate since the beginning of the land issue and she also spoke to Sen.
Banerjee has also asked MSME Minister and local MLAE Chandranath Sinha to lead the protest, which will be joined by other Ministers too.
She instructed the Legislators not to budge even if the Visva Bharati authorities requisition
bulldozers to enforce eviction.
