MHA team seals ‘enemy property’ in central Kolkata – Times of India

KOLKATA: A team from the Union ministry of home affairs on Saturday raided and sealed the property on 21 Ganesh Chandra Avenue under the Enemy Property Act, 1965, following complaints of illegal occupation of the premises.
The raid was carried out early by officials from the Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI), which functions under the MHA, and led by assistant custodian (Delhi and Kolkata region) Abhishek Agarwal.
According to ministry sources, the property was notified as ‘enemy property’ after its owners Azizur Rahman, Nazidur Rahman and Noor Jahan Begum moved to Pakistan during or after the Indo-Pak wars between 1965 and 1971.
Bengal is said to have the highest number of ‘enemy property’ after Uttar Pradesh. Kolkata houses 96 such properties, many of them situated in prime locations such as BBD Bag. Realtors have been eyeing them for a long time and several such premises have been illegally occupied.
The Centre has identified over 3,000 new ‘enemy property’ left behind by Chinese and Pakistani nationals after the India-China war in 1962 and Indo-Pak wars in 1965 and 1971. The number of ‘enemy property’ vested with the CEPI has risen to 12,426 from 9,406, according to government officials.
Such properties in Kolkata include shoe shops, restaurants, orchards and iconic buildings at prime addresses. CEPI has 2,786 properties spread over 13 districts in Bengal.
Of these, 2,735 are immovable assets of those who left these behind and took citizenship of Pakistan after Partition or after the 1965 and 1971 wars with India. The remaining 51 constitute immovable properties of those who took Chinese citizenship in the aftermath of the 1962 war.