By IANS,
Kolkata : A solution to the 28-month dispute over the land allotted to Tata Motors’ Nano project at Singur in West Bengal seemed to be in sight after the first round of mediatory talks initiated by Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi here Friday.
Both warring sides – the West Bengal government ruled by a Left coalition and the state’s principal opposition Trinamool Congress-led farmers’ group – came out with positive statements after the first round of talks here Friday.
The talks are to continue Saturday at the same venue – the governor’s residence, Raj Bhavan.
“We are heading towards a solution,” said Trinamool leader Partho Chattopadhyay after coming out of the first round of talks, which ended late Friday evening.
“They presented their views. We also presented our views. We had free and frank discussions to arrive at a solution that will ensure that Tata Motors remain in our state,” said state Industry Minister Nirupam Sen after the meeting.
He said the marathon talks were “constructive” and had raised hopes of a solution.
After the talks, the opposition delegation led by Chattopadhyay rushed to Singur to brief Mamata Banerjee.
Similarly, from the state government side, the two Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) ministers at the discussions – Industry Minister Nirupam Sen and Panchayat Minister Surjyakanta Mishra – rushed to meet top party functionaries at the party’s state headquarters here.
The CPI-M leads the Left coalition that rules West Bengal.
Asked whether the state government assured of giving any plot of land to farmers who had given their land “unwillingly”, Sen said: “We discussed the land issue. We discussed what was possible and pragmatic in this regard.”
A source said the main area of contention now was the quantum of land for the land losers. While the opposition wanted at least 200 acres, the state government agreed to concede much less.
The governor, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, who chaired the meeting, also termed the talks as “useful and constructive”.
“There is a lot of interest and expectation among people of the state and beyond,” he said.
“Views were exchanged by all those present in a spirit of understanding,” he added during his short media briefing after the meeting.
The much-awaited meeting on the Singur land dispute is being watched keenly both in India and abroad as the fate of the world’s cheapest car Nano depends on the outcome.
Earlier in the day, the talks, which were scheduled to begin in the morning, were postponed to 4 p.m.
This sent out all kinds of wrong signals, but in the evening discussions started on time with no further disruptions.
Chattopadhyay, who led the farmers’ group Krishijami Jiban Jibika Raksha Committee (KJJRC) during the three-hour discussion with the state government representatives, said the land issue was discussed at length.
However, Chattopadhyay declined to spell out the details, as he sped off to Singur to apprise Mamata Banerjee about the discussions.
Sources said the government presented a package including provisions for shopping malls for those who had given their land in a plot adjacent to the Nano plant.
Government ministers and officials present at the meeting remained tight-lipped.
However, a smiling Home Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty said: “We held the meeting with a noble purpose. But it won’t be proper for me to say anything, as the respected governor will talk to the media.”
After the postponement of the talks in the morning, some confusion was created when Gandhi and the state government came out with differing versions regarding the reasons.
Gandhi said the parleys were deferred following a request from the state government.
State Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, however, claimed the governor himself postponed the meeting as Trinamool did not heed his advice to temporarily suspend the agitation.
The governor also wanted normalcy to return on the National Highway No 2 passing through Singur, Bhattacharjee said.
The highway has remained blocked for the last 12 days after the agitation started leading to immense hardships for the people of the state.
“Peaceful and democratic protest is the right of everyone. The law of the land should be maintained,” said Gandhi, who was assisted in the talks by retired justice Chittatosh Mukherjee.
Mukherjee was appointed the legal adviser to the governor for the talks.
Trinamool Congress-backed farmers have been holding protests since Aug 24 at the Nano project site at Singur.
They want 400 acres of land – of the 997.11 acres acquired for the project – to be returned.
The 400 acres are meant for ancillary industries.
After the Trinamool-led protests intensified, the Tata group last week suspended work at the factory site saying it will not put its employees at risk.
The factory currently employs some 800 people, including engineers from South Korea and Singapore.
The company also threatened to relocate the project to some other state if the protests continued.
On Wednesday, a farmer who had sold his land willingly to the Tatas for the Nano project, committed suicide after the company announced it was suspending work.
His three sons were employed in the company as guards and they stood to lose their jobs.
The suicide has come as a jolt to the Trinamool Congress-led movement and many have started coming out in the open to support the project that aims to build the Nano, whose dealer price will be Rs.100,000 (less than $2,500).