The Hindu Business Line : ‘Govt cannot return more than 70 acres from Nano plant site’

Supporting the project: The supporters and members of the Pashchim Banga Nirman Karmi Union, a wing of CITU formed for the Singur Tata Motors project, have started a dharna in front of the project site demanding resumption of work at the plant on Saturday.

Our Bureau

Kolkata, Sept. 13 Uncertainty looms large over the future of the Tata Motors Nano plant in Singur with the ruling Left Front stating emphatically that it would not be possible for the State Government to give back to ‘unwilling farmers’ more than 70 acres from the plant area and Ms Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress insisting that maximum land – out of the 400 acres asked for – be returned from within the project area.

On Saturday, the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress announced that they would launch programmes in support of their respective agendas. The Left Front will launch a campaign in support of the Tata small car project on Sunday. This would be followed by a “March to Singur” on Monday.

The integrated nature of the project was imperative to ensure that the Nano is priced at Rs 1 lakh, the Chairman of the Left Front, Mr Biman Bose, told newspersons here.

The State Government will release advertisements in local newspapers on Sunday providing details of the revised compensation package that was offered to Ms Banerjee on Friday. This included, among other things, an extra 50 per cent financial compensation to all those whose land has been acquired.

Ms Banerjee told newspersons that the State Government must stick to the “agreement” that was entered into between the State Government and the Trinamool Congress in the presence of the Governor on Sunday last. She announced that the Trinamool Congress would organise a march to Singur on September 16. She threatened to restart her agitation programme in support of her demands after September 19 if the issue was not resolved by then.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the Governor of West Bengal, Mr Gopal Krishna Gandhi, said: “Through the Singur discussions on September 5, 6 and 7, I saw earnest participants showing a rare spirit of accommodation. That spirit needs to be operationalised. Reason can be reasonable; passion dispassionate. I believe, given the will, a solution can still be found in a manner that accords with the law, safeguards the interests of farmers and of the small car factory and, going beyond, help in establishing the farm-factory balance that we so vitally need.”

Tata Motors, which is investing about Rs 1,500 crore in the plant to make Nano, suspended work on the plant on September 2 citing hostile environment at the plant site. It also said it was working out details for relocating plant and machinery. The Nano is to roll out in the quarter beginning October.

Related Stories:
No breakthrough in Singur talks
‘Trinamool demand for 300 acres rejected’
Work suspension at Singur will continue: Tata Motors

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