Date:16/02/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/02/16/stories/2007021618611900.htm

National

Return farmland, demands Mamata

Barasat (West Bengal) : Accusing the West Bengal Government of creating a conflict between agriculture and industry, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Thursday asked authorities to return farmland "forcibly" acquired in Singur for the Tata Motors car project.

"It is my challenge to return to farmers their land forcibly acquired by the Government for the Tata Motors' small car project in Singur," Ms. Banerjee told a rally in this North 24 Parganas district town.

Lashing out at the Centre for remaining "silent" on the acquisition in Singur, she said, "I fail to understand why the UPA is indifferent to the situation. It may be because it takes outside support of the CPI (M) to cling to power at the Centre."

Ms. Banerjee, who welcomed the Calcutta High Court order quashing prohibitory orders in Singur, said ``if the Chief Minister has minimum respect for democracy, he should have stepped down by now." "After remaining inactive on industrialisation for the last 30 years, the Left Front has started grabbing the land of poor peasants in the name of industry at Singur, Nandigram and Khejuri," she alleged.

`Land grabbed'

She urged the peasantry to form "save farmland committees" wherever agricultural land was sought to be taken away for industry.

Ms. Banerjee alleged that the administration had deployed a large contingent of police in Singur to "guard Tata's land" and "break up democratic movements."

She claimed that the State Government had "grabbed" six lakh acres of farmland.

On the violence in Nandigram, she alleged that "the CPI-M is assuring people there that their land will not be taken away while it is arming its cadres.''

PTI