Buy alternative land for Singur farmers, Left tells Mamata

Kolkata, Dec 1 (IANS) The Left Front Saturday suggested to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee buy alternative plots from adjoining areas to return land to the farmers of Singur who had refused compensation for their land acquired earlier for an industrial project.

“In the interest of farmers, if the state government buys 135 acres of land from adjoining areas and returns it to the unwilling farmers, the problem will be sorted out. Then it can claim that they have returned land to the farmers,” Front chairman Biman Bose told media persons on the sidelines of an event in Birbhum district.

Amid rising resentment among Singur farmers, who had stood by her during the peasant movement against the erstwhile Left Front government, Banerjee who visited the place Friday, assured them of returning the land acquired for a car manufacturing factory.

“She has been repeatedly assuring the farmers that their land will be returned to them, but the promises still remain unfulfilled,” added Bose.

Immediately after coming to power in May last year, the Banerjee government had passed a law to cancel the lease of the land acquired for the industrial project by the Left Front government and sought to return 400 acres of it, taken from farmers reportedly unwilling to part with their land.

But due to subsequent legal battles, the state government is yet unable to fulfill its promise of returning the land to the “unwilling” land losers.

The state government which has promised a dole of Rs.2,000 per month and rice at Rs.2 per kg, has not been able to provide the same for some months leading to a resentment among the peasants who Thursday heckled newly-appointed Minister of State for Agriculture Becharam Manna.

IANS 2012-12-01 22:10:17