National

Mamata defends statement on Singur land

Kolkata: Adopting a strident posture, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday stuck to her statement that 300 acres of land would be returned to the ‘unwilling’ farmers from the Tata Motors’ Nano car project area.

She told journalists here that the government would have to decide where the vendor’s park for the project would be set up, suggesting that the ancillary units should be shifted somewhere adjacent to the plant.

Although the statement read out by West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Sunday did not mention how much land would be provided to the farmers who had not received compensation, mentioning only about the ‘maximum’ within the Nano project area, Ms. Banerjee reiterated that the 300 acres would be provided from within the project area.

She said the agreement had been signed by a State Minister and Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had agreed to it in the presence of another Minister and the Governor had read out the statement.

“The government cannot now back out of the agreement. This is a gentleman’s agreement,” she said.

She said the Tata Motors statement that it would not resume work at the plant till there was clarity on the outcome of Sunday night’s talks did not concern her party and expressed confidence that the Left Front government would go by the agreement.

“I want the Tatas to stay here. Why would the government deviate from the agreement? It is a people’s issue,” she told a questioner. — PTI

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