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| New optimism replaces old fears |
| Sohini Das & Ishita Ayan Dutt / Singur Aug 08, 2009, 01:09 IST |
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The Singur land impasse will be resolved in the next couple of months, believes Becharam Manna, convenor of the Trinamool Congress-backed Krishi Jami Raksha Committee and vice president, Singur Panchayat Samity.
“Discussions are at an advanced stage with the central government so that railways can do a wagon factory at the Singur site in PPP mode. It will not be a problem as Ratan Tata is the chairman of the Investment Commission. The state government has given the land to Tata; if it grants permission, then a railway coach factory can be built by Ratan Tata in PPP mode. Or he can return the land,” said Manna, with a lot of conviction.
The optimism in the Singur air is a step-down effect. Banerjee’s belief has rubbed on Becharam Manna, which is reflected in the unwilling farmers.
Trinamool Congress leader, Mamata Banerjee, launched an indefinite dharna at Singur on August 24 last year, demanding return of “400 acres” acquired from unwilling farmers for Tata Motors’ Nano project, an agitation that ultimately led to its relocation. A year on, Banerjee has been unable to give back the land promised to the people, but sops are galore.
Last month, Banerjee sent 75 quintals of rice for the landless agricultural labourers. It’s not a one-off; regular supplies of staples are sent from Kolkata by the party chief.
“The need may be much more than the supply, but Didi is helping them. There are 300-400 landless agricultural labourers who are in dire straits. A corpus may also be created to take care of the needs of the people,” said Becharam Manna,
Talks are on with Anuradha Talwar, president of Pashchim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, who had supported the dharna last year, for training the wives of the labourers in handicrafts. “A team is scheduled to visit this week,” said Manna.
The relatively affluent land losers are not supported directly by the committee. Some of them had been doing the rounds of the block development officer (BDO) to enquire about their compensation cheques, which they had not collected. But that was prior to the routing of the Left Front in the Lok Sabha elections. The resounding victory of the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal in the recent elections has rekindled hopes of getting the land back. Singur, which is in the Hooghly Lok Sabha seat, gave Trinamool Congress a lead of 22,363 votes.
Anya Ghosh was game to making the transition from “unwilling” to “willing”, if the government paid interest on the three years’ income that she had been deprived of.
While Banerjee staged the dharna last year, closer to the roll-out of Nano from Singur, the battle had been brewing since the land was acquired by the state government in 2006 by invoking the Land Acquisition Act.
Of the 997 acres acquired for the project, according to government records, unwilling farmers account for 180 acres, though Banerjee puts it at 400 acres.
At least a section of the 2,000-odd unwilling farmers of the total 13,000 want to collect their cheques, provided they are paid interest for the last three years.
Anya Ghosh said, “I am a widow, and I have two daughters. We are a joint family of nine with only one earning member. I visited the BDO office two months back to enquire about my cheque, but now of course everything has changed after the elections.”
The game changing event, they believe, will be the assembly elections in 2011 when Mamata Banerjee becomes the chief minister.
Pratap Chandra Ghosh, a land loser said, “We have waited for so long. I am willing to wait another two years.”
Banerjee’s latest sop for Singur was the Andolan Local, to run a 34 km distance between Singur and Howrah. The Andolan Local, an all-stop train will take around 58 minutes to travel the distance. Already 24 pairs of trains are on the route.
Banerjee, while flagging off the Andolan Local, last week, said she had requested the central government to allow the railways to set up a wagon factory on the undisputed 600 acres at Singur.
That may be a far cry, legally. Government sources said the land, if returned, would have to be auctioned and the highest bidder would bag it. Tata Motors, which has renewed the lease for the year, said, “Tata Motors has always said that it will discuss matters connected with the leased plot at Singur with the West Bengal government."
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