By IANS
Kolkata : The Left Front Saturday authorised the West Bengal government to decide on Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's demand for returning land to farmers in Singur who refused to accept monetary compensation for their land acquired for the Tata Motors project.
Left Front chairman Biman Bose said the state government has to decide on whether to return land to those who did not accept cheques in Singur, about 40 km from Kolkata in Hooghly district.
Bose said the Front could not decide since there are legal implications that needed to be considered.
"The Left Front can only suggest, but it is not within its jurisdiction to instruct the state government what it should do with regard to the demands (made by Banerjee during her meeting with Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) patriarch Jyoti Basu) on the Singur project," Bose said after a meeting of the Front here.
Bose, also the state secretary of the CPI-M, said the Left Front welcomed the June 4 meeting between Basu and Banerjee, but insisted that the state government would take whatever steps needed in the light of what transpired during the talks.
"The demands raised have to be discussed with the state government," he said.
Banerjee, who met Basu at his residence in an unprecedented move in the state politics, has demanded that a total of 402 acres taken without consent would have to be returned.
Banerjee had suggested that around 600 acres of alternative land was available opposite the current project site and the project may be split into two with the shifting of the vendor area of 290 acres.
Basu had assured her of communicating her demand to the state government.
Banerjee has threatened to continue her stir against the Singur project until land belonging to peasants, who had handed over their land against their wishes, was returned.
There are nearly 300 peasants who have not given their consent to the acquisition, she maintained.
Basu said there are "legal points" that needed to be looked into regarding the return of such land and Industries Minister Nirupam Sen was "working it out".