Author: Meghdeep Bhattacharyya
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: November 15 , 2008
URL: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1081115/jsp/calcutta/story_10073407.jsp
Property dispute hounds students
Fourteen students of Loreto College and five
Anglo-Indian families are under siege at their 38 Elliot Road home.
At 6am on October 30, a group of nearly 40
men invaded the parking lot of the address and grabbed an adjacent room on
the ground floor that was part of the Dr Graham's Homes Girls' Hostel.
A "no admission without permission"
notice is up at the entrance of the parking lot and groups of men are parked
there, day and night.
"We feel so unsafe with the men flocking
around whenever we pass by. It's very disturbing. We are all children supported
by Dr Graham's Homes; we have nowhere else to go," said a girl in the
hostel on the second floor.
The new occupants claim that Iftekhar Ahmed
of 7 Ripon Lane, who promotes buildings in the area, has bought the premises
and handed over the keys to them.
"This was nothing but kabza (forceful
possession). Now the goons knock on our doors every day threatening us with
dire consequences if we don't withdraw the police complaint. We are terrified,"
said Richard Allwyn Payne, a teacher who has been living there since 2003.
Iftekhar Ahmed sits in a chair near the gate
and "protects" the 1,000-odd square feet of the "legally purchased"
premises. "I have been a tenant here for over two decades. I have rent
receipts to prove it. Now I have purchased it. If anyone thinks I've done
anything illegal, let it be proven. There's nothing more I need to tell you,"
he told Metro.
The rent receipts submitted to Park Street
police station state that DPS (HAP) Private Limited, a company at 21B Gurusaday
Road, is the owner of the parking lot and the adjacent room.
But documents produced by the hostel authorities
show the parking lot and the adjacent room registered under the name of the
original owner of the second-floor flat, Gillian Hart, the principal of Welland
Gouldsmith School. She had sold the flat along with the parking lot and the
room to Dr Graham's Homes in 2005.
"When I purchased the second-floor flat,
the parking lot and the room on the ground floor were registered along with
it. They legally belong to whoever is the owner of that flat," said Hart.
The hostel authorities and the families at
38 Elliot Road allege that officers at Park Street police station have been
turning a deaf ear to their pleas. "I cannot comment on something I don't
know much about," Nissar Ahmed, the officer-in-charge of Park Street
police station told Metro.
But the hostel authorities have a different
story to tell. "I met Nissar Ahmed at the police station where Iftekhar
Ahmed, too, was present. In the middle of our conversation, Iftekhar told
me: 'Don't talk so much lady, I know all about you.' The officer kept mum,"
alleged Moina Jhala, the chairperson of Dr Graham's Homes Girls' Hostel.
Some residents of the area hinted at a nexus
between Iftekhar Ahmed and Sultan Ahmed, the local Trinamul legislator. Sultan
Ahmed, however, said: "Iftekhar promotes buildings illegally. He has
political backing and has exerted some influence on the police. The situation
is a threat to the girls living there."
The girls are now pinning their hopes on action
by the deputy commissioner of police (south), Rajesh Subarno. "I assure
you, timely action will be taken," said Subarno.
