CM Banerjee has said that she has asked the land department to find the records of the said plot (file photo)
A notice was sent to Sen by Visva Bharati that he was encroaching on some decibel land of Visva Bharati University. The VC said that he has asked the concerned department to investigate the matter.
Recently the Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee Handed over land related documents to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. Bidyut Chakraborty, VC of Visva-Bharati University, had claimed that Sen had encroached 13 decibels on land which is not owned by him. A notice was sent to Sen by Visva Bharati that he was encroaching on some decibel land of the university.
CM Banerjee has now said that she has asked the land department to search for the records of the said parcel of land. “I didn’t say anything on this matter earlier because I wanted to tell the truth. Today, I have the truth,” Banerjee said, handing over all the land records that the land department has found to Dr Sen.
“Now that he is living here, we have given him notice by hand. Earlier also we have given notice to them, but they did not respond. Also, we have great respect for him but he has not got Nobel, there is no Nobel for economics. What he has got is an award, which is in memory of Nobel,” Chakraborty had said earlier.
“This controversy is nothing but a ploy by the BJP to insult the Nobel laureate,” he said. called the allegations against him baseless, He also announced that the Nobel laureate would be provided with ‘Z plus’ category security in future.
The allegations of land grab against him (Amartya Sen) are baseless. This is an attempt to tarnish his reputation. No one has the right to insult him. We will not tolerate this,” Banerjee said. “I respect Visva-Bharati, but condemn the efforts to saffronize the holy institution,” she said.
A few days ago, a letter was written to Professor Sen by the joint registrar of Visva Bharati, in which the official mentioned that he had illegally acquired 0.13 decimals of land on the campus, he said. “I asked the concerned department to investigate the matter, and we got the land records from the land records department of the government. LR records from 1984 mention that the West Bengal government had given 1.38 acres of land to Dr. Sen’s family. The same 1.38 acres of land is also mentioned in the old record of 1956.
Visva Bharati officials’ letter to Dr. Sen mentions that 0.13 decimal of land is illegally occupied, while the remaining 1.25 decimal is fine. However, the records of the state government clearly mention 1.38 acres, which confirms that this is nothing but harassment on the part of the university, Banerjee said.
“Whatever Amartya Sen has said is absolutely correct. Even the old record of 1956 says the same thing, i.e. 1.38 acres of land belongs to him. If so, why is Dr. Amartya Sen being insulted by the officials of Visva Bharati? There is someone who has imparted education and knowledge to so many people. Today they are being harassed and humiliated. I want to tell Visva Bharati administration that if you cannot recognize Dr. Sen’s talent, at least don’t insult him.
She further said that she wants Visva Bharati to run peacefully. “I am not naming anyone but I only see university administration suspending students and issuing show cause notices. The thing is, we haven’t lost our spine yet. We will always stand against those who insult our seniors. Such is the level of humiliation that some officials of Visva Bharati have even questioned the authenticity of Amartya Babu’s Nobel Prize. To them, all I want to say is that before commenting on other matters, first go and find Rabindranath Tagore’s stolen Nobel Prize.”
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