Vendors moving equipment , Time running out, says Nirupam Sen
By Marcus Dam
Kolkata: The spectre of Tata Motors pulling out of Singur loomed large even as there were reports on Wednesday of certain vendors moving out their equipment over the past few days from the project site, where work has remained suspended for more than three weeks.
Tata Motors, however, refused to comment.
Prakash Karat, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said here that he did not think the project would take off if there were further delays.
Time was running out and the company was suffering losses, State Industries Minister Nirupam Sen observed.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who is demanding return of land “forcibly” acquired from farmers, has meanwhile placed fresh demands before Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi.
Ms. Banerjee, who has rejected a package offered by the State government that envisages sustained economic rehabilitation for all farmers whose land has been acquired, demanded that Article 355 be invoked if the government failed to abide by the September 7 “agreement” on the return of land.
Mamata meets Governor
She, along with leaders of parties who have joined ranks with her on the Singur issue, met the Governor.
Ms. Banerjee later told journalists that her impression was that “the Governor is very saddened” by the turn of events.
“He too wanted a solution to the problem and ensure a farm-factory balance.”
She remained firm on her demand that 300 acres from within the project site be handed back to farmers who had not accepted compensation for their plots.
The government made it clear that this was not possible, if the integral nature of the auto-cluster critical to the project was to be maintained as demanded by Tata Motors.
The former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) president H.D. Deve Gowda, who described the package offered by the government as a model for other States, appealed to all political parties to cooperate and solve the Singur problem.
“Opponents of the project are resisting it to fulfil their own political agenda,” he said.
Ms. Banerjee said: “I am willing to sit for a thousand discussions with the government if they are aimed at operationalising the agreement.”
She also demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the new compensation package being offered by the government to Singur farmers – one that she described as a “political, not government package.” Source : The Hindu
"Land is limited. Land is precious"
Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, Sept 24: In a veiled criticism of the Left Front government for its handling of the Singur issue, Governor Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi said today a dialogue should have been held much earlier and not when a crisis was at hand.
“The first imperative is that of a dialogue, not when a crisis hangs overhead, but well in advance,” said Mr Gandhi, who had mediated the talks between chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Trinamul Congress chief Miss Mamata Banerjee on September 7 on Singur but which has failed to lead to a solution.
He said: " Policy makers should keep in mind that farming community has a mind of its own and they should think carefully before providing arable land for industrial ventures.”
“The way in which agriculture and industry are seen juxtaposed is not right. There is scope and need for both”, he said. He said “empirical evidence has shown that options other than compulsory land acquisition are possible.”
Citing examples, he said farmers' cooperatives had established their own SEZs and industrial estates successfully in Maharashtra. He said: “The cooperative movement in Gujarat and Maharashtra holds an example of what can be done when small farmers pool their resources together.
“Land is limited. Land is precious. Land holds a special value to farmers and their families. It is not impersonal, dematerialised share certificate that you buy and sell with every swing of the Sensex,” Gandhi said.
“We have to be sensitive to the responses of those who lose land and livelihood to projects for industry, housing and infrastructure,” he added.
The Governor was speaking at the inauguration of the Second Green Revolution Summit and Expo, organised jointly by the state government and the Indian Chamber of Commerce, this morning. Source: The Statesman
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