By INDRANIL GHOSH
Calcutta, Sept. 7: The Singur siege was suspended tonight after an agreement Mamata Banerjee seized upon to claim “victory” but that was vague on many contentious issues.
The “deal” capped a roller-coaster day that set the stage for the first-ever meeting between Mamata and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee who were compelled to meet twice within the space of a few hours to pull the agreement back from the brink.
At 10.35pm, governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi read out a statement that promised to provide land “to the maximum” from the project site to those who have not accepted compensation in Singur.
The second highlight of the statement was a request to vendors to stop construction for a week, by when a committee will “ascertain the scope and settle the modalities” for the land package.
The statement did not specify the quantum of land that will be spared from the project site, choosing to use the words “to the maximum”, which gave Mamata the leeway to claim that 300 acres in the site would be returned. However, going strictly by the statement, no figure can be arrived at with certainty until and unless the committee gives a specific assessment in its report.
“It’s a total victory,” Mamata said on her way to Singur, where she formally announced late tonight that the siege was being “suspended”. “I am suspending my agitation, not withdrawing it. If things do not happen as promised, I shall return to Singur to relaunch the protest.”
The Tatas were initially said to be taken aback by her statements on land but are understood to have later factored in the claim as a leader’s message intended at the political constituency.
Chief minister Bhattacharjee was more restrained than Mamata. “It’s the victory of development,” he said.
CPM state secretariat member Shyamal Chakraborty exuded confidence that “there should not be any problem now for the Nano to roll out from Singur”. However, industry analysts were cautious, preferring to wait for the fine print to emerge.
The deal came close to collapse at several points during the day but Mamata betrayed her anxiety to wrap up the matter by spending over seven hours at Raj Bhavan from 3pm.
At two rounds of long meetings between Bhattacharjee and Mamata and her team, which were chaired by the governor, the two sides agreed to constitute a four-member committee under local Trinamul MLA Rabindranath Bhattacharya. The panel will try to find the scope of returning to the farmers land “to the maximum” inside the complex and the rest in adjacent areas.
Accompanied by Bhattacharjee and Mamata, Gandhi announced the committee would carry out the task within one week. Gandhi spent nearly 18 gruelling hours from Thursday trying to bring about a reconciliation.
On Sunday, in the first few hours from 11am when the governor met the chief minister, a solution looked tantalisingly close. When her turn came, Mamata submitted to the governor a set of papers to support her claim for rehabilitation across 400 acres inside the complex and reconfiguration of the vendor park.
Then the governor called the chief minister for what is being described as a “historic” meeting with Mamata. At the meeting that lasted for over one and a half hours, Bhattacharjee explained the government’s stand to Mamata.
Armed with endorsements from the Left Front as well as the CPM for accepting a land-for-land formula without rocking the project, Bhattacharjee was in a mood for accommodation in a limited way.
According to sources, he returned to CPM headquarters to inform his party and Left Front leaders that the deadlock was finally broken and that he had agreed to step up the quantum of land to be given inside — rumoured to be 80 to 100 acres — as well as outside. There was jubilation in CPM headquarters.
However, the joy was shortlived as news reached that Mamata had come up with fresh demands. She apparently wanted the specific quantum of land to be mentioned in the statement. Mamata also insisted that the halt of construction in the vendor park be included with an “indefinite tag”.
The governor, who had gone out for some time to attend a pre-fixed official function, returned around 9pm to have another meeting with Mamata and Bhattacharjee, this time accompanied by industries minister Nirupam Sen and panchayat minister Surjya Kanta Mishra. Bhattacharjee managed to convince Mamata that it would be better not to mention specific figures in the text, a view supported by the governor’s legal adviser Chittatosh Mookerjee. The other demand that construction in the vendor park be put on hold indefinitely was modified with the time fixed at a week.(END) Source : The Telegraph
Calcutta, Sept. 7: The Singur siege was suspended tonight after an agreement Mamata Banerjee seized upon to claim “victory” but that was vague on many contentious issues.
The “deal” capped a roller-coaster day that set the stage for the first-ever meeting between Mamata and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee who were compelled to meet twice within the space of a few hours to pull the agreement back from the brink.
At 10.35pm, governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi read out a statement that promised to provide land “to the maximum” from the project site to those who have not accepted compensation in Singur.
The second highlight of the statement was a request to vendors to stop construction for a week, by when a committee will “ascertain the scope and settle the modalities” for the land package.
The statement did not specify the quantum of land that will be spared from the project site, choosing to use the words “to the maximum”, which gave Mamata the leeway to claim that 300 acres in the site would be returned. However, going strictly by the statement, no figure can be arrived at with certainty until and unless the committee gives a specific assessment in its report.
“It’s a total victory,” Mamata said on her way to Singur, where she formally announced late tonight that the siege was being “suspended”. “I am suspending my agitation, not withdrawing it. If things do not happen as promised, I shall return to Singur to relaunch the protest.”
The Tatas were initially said to be taken aback by her statements on land but are understood to have later factored in the claim as a leader’s message intended at the political constituency.
Chief minister Bhattacharjee was more restrained than Mamata. “It’s the victory of development,” he said.
CPM state secretariat member Shyamal Chakraborty exuded confidence that “there should not be any problem now for the Nano to roll out from Singur”. However, industry analysts were cautious, preferring to wait for the fine print to emerge.
The deal came close to collapse at several points during the day but Mamata betrayed her anxiety to wrap up the matter by spending over seven hours at Raj Bhavan from 3pm.
At two rounds of long meetings between Bhattacharjee and Mamata and her team, which were chaired by the governor, the two sides agreed to constitute a four-member committee under local Trinamul MLA Rabindranath Bhattacharya. The panel will try to find the scope of returning to the farmers land “to the maximum” inside the complex and the rest in adjacent areas.
Accompanied by Bhattacharjee and Mamata, Gandhi announced the committee would carry out the task within one week. Gandhi spent nearly 18 gruelling hours from Thursday trying to bring about a reconciliation.
On Sunday, in the first few hours from 11am when the governor met the chief minister, a solution looked tantalisingly close. When her turn came, Mamata submitted to the governor a set of papers to support her claim for rehabilitation across 400 acres inside the complex and reconfiguration of the vendor park.
Then the governor called the chief minister for what is being described as a “historic” meeting with Mamata. At the meeting that lasted for over one and a half hours, Bhattacharjee explained the government’s stand to Mamata.
Armed with endorsements from the Left Front as well as the CPM for accepting a land-for-land formula without rocking the project, Bhattacharjee was in a mood for accommodation in a limited way.
According to sources, he returned to CPM headquarters to inform his party and Left Front leaders that the deadlock was finally broken and that he had agreed to step up the quantum of land to be given inside — rumoured to be 80 to 100 acres — as well as outside. There was jubilation in CPM headquarters.
However, the joy was shortlived as news reached that Mamata had come up with fresh demands. She apparently wanted the specific quantum of land to be mentioned in the statement. Mamata also insisted that the halt of construction in the vendor park be included with an “indefinite tag”.
The governor, who had gone out for some time to attend a pre-fixed official function, returned around 9pm to have another meeting with Mamata and Bhattacharjee, this time accompanied by industries minister Nirupam Sen and panchayat minister Surjya Kanta Mishra. Bhattacharjee managed to convince Mamata that it would be better not to mention specific figures in the text, a view supported by the governor’s legal adviser Chittatosh Mookerjee. The other demand that construction in the vendor park be put on hold indefinitely was modified with the time fixed at a week.(END) Source : The Telegraph
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন