A 96-year-old Christian educational institution in Patna has said it is battling the land mafia after 7.68 acres of its prime land was allegedly illegally acquired and that the minority community’s members are being assaulted. The Opposition RJD has alleged the connivance of Bihar’s NDA government in this apparent land grab.
The registration of the land belonging to the Angus School at Patna’s Lodipur area run by the Baptist Union Church, set up in 1915, in the name of Sadaykrishna Kanoria after its purported purchase in 2008 has turned controversial with the church officials and the RJD claiming it was blatantly fraudulent. Abdul Bari Siddiqui, leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, alleged on Tuesday that the Nitish Kumar-led government connived with Kanoria, owner of a sister company of Ambuja Cements, and the land mafia to dispossess the minority institution of a piece of prime land.
The state government, though it quickly denied having any role in the affair and promised investigation, seems to have remained indifferent to the church authorities’ repeated pleas for help. Despite Rajendra Kalmal, the church’s chairman, complaining to the Patna DM in July 2007 about criminals of the land mafia intimidating Christian families living on the school premises, no steps were taken, said Siddiqui. The families were again beaten up by criminals on August 19, he added.