By IANS,
Kolkata : In a meeting with state government officials, representatives of West Bengal’s principal opposition party Trinamool Congress Tuesday demanded 300 acres of land from within the Tata Motors’ Nano project site at Singur in the state.
“The dialogue with the state government officials was carried out in a cordial atmosphere,” Trinamool Congress MLA from Hooghly district’s Singur Rabindranath Bhattacharjee told reporters after the meeting here Tuesday.
“We told the government representatives to give back about 300 acres of land to the farmers from inside the project area,” he said.
He said the talks will continue and the committee would try to find out a solution to the land row within the next one week.
“We’ll try to provide maximum acres of land to the farmers from inside the project area. The committee will visit Singur Wednesday to do a viability study and will also scout for vacant land in and around the Nano plant,” he said.
Bhattacharjee and farmers’ leader Becharam Manna Tuesday met West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) managing director Subrata Gupta and Hooghly district magistrate Nilam Meena for the first time at the WBIDC office here.
The committee also discussed the land issue and compensation package for the Singur farmers during the three-hour meeting.
The Trinamool Congress-led farmers’ body Krishijami Jiban Jibika Raksha Committee (KJJRC), which opposed the takeover of farmland for the Tata project, had called for an indefinite protest at the Nano factory site from August 24.
The sit-in outside the Tata Motors project was lifted Sunday night as an accord was reached between the state government and the agitators.
The farmer’s group demanded the return of 400 acres which it alleged was forcibly taken from “unwilling farmers” to build ancillary industries adjacent to the Tata Motors’ mother unit.
Two years ago, Tata Motors started setting up the unit here for the world’s cheapest car Nano, priced at Rs.100,000 ($2,500).
A total of 997.11 acres was acquired for the project, of which the government claims 691.66 acres belonged to farmers who gave their land willingly.