By IANS,
Kolkata : The Tata Motors’ small car plant at Singur in West Bengal remained closed for the eighth day Tuesday as confusing signals continued to emerge over the so-called deal between the state government and the dissatisfied farmers over a part of the land acquired for the project.
A day after the Tata group sought more clarity in the deal and said the factory and its ancillary units cannot be separated, the state government also sought to make it clear that no land will be returned from the project area, some 40 km from the state capital.
But the four-member committee appointed by the state government to recommend within a week how to compensate the Singur farmers from whom land was forcibly acquired, said it had studied the project site and found some areas suitable for return.
“I’ve toured the entire 997.11-acre area of the project. And I’ve seen about 350 acres lying unused so far. That land can be returned to the unwilling farmers,” said Becharam Manna, a farmer-leader and member of the committee.
“The committee is also considering compensation packages for share croppers and farm labourers who worked in those plots. We’ll raise the issue in our meeting with the state government representatives,” Manna told IANS in Singur.
The state government, however, said here Tuesday that an assurance had gone out to the Tata group – India’s largest industrial house with a turnover of $62.5 billion from 96 companies – that no land from the project site would be given away.
“I appeal to all to facilitate the Tatas to restart the operations at the Singur plant peacefully and smoothly,” said state Industry Minister Nirupam Sen, adding a pullout by the group would be a setback to the state.
These conflicting signals that Tata Motors had referred to in their statement Monday, also left the villagers of Singur utterly confused, as they were also worried if their land remained cultivable since the acquisition in mid-2006.
“If we get back our land, will it remain as fertile as before? There is a major confusion. In what shape will the land be given back?” wondered Ranjit Das who once owned a small piece of land inside what is now part of the factory site.
The government had acquired 997.11 acres for the Tata project and its ancillary units to roll out the world’s cheapest car Nano, costing all of $2,500, which caught global attention when the prototype was unveiled last year.
But a section of the farmers, who are said to have owned some 400 areas out of the acquired land, did not want to part with the asset and started an agitation with the support of the state’s main opposition Trinamool Congress.
Tuesday also saw a fresh political twist to the saga, when West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi wrote to Congress party’s state chief Priyaranjan Dasmunsi that all the points raised by his party were considered in the deal.
Dasmunsi had criticised the governor – the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi – for not inviting the representatives of his party while mediating the agreement between the state government and the Trinamool Congress, led by Mamata Banerjee.
The comment came even as the Tata group said it was “distressed over the limited clarity” in the so-called deal, adding there was also “a significant variant in the statement” that followed the pact with the protesters.
“I request you to kindly provide complete clarity on the same on an urgent basis to us, to assess the impact on the implementation of the Nano project in Singur and to enable us take appropriate decisions,” Tata Motors managing director Ravi Kant said in a statement.
All this led to a curious comment by the state secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the leader of Left Front, Biman Bose.
“Till the other day, Mamata kept saying there was lack of clarity in the pact signed by the Tatas and the government. Now, the Tatas are saying the agreement between the agitators and the government lacks clarity,” he said.
“It seems we need to have another round of meetings on clarity.”