National

People deserve solution on Singur: Governor

SINGUR: West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi has said that the people of the State desire and deserve a solution on the Singur issue.

Replying to a question on whether he was hopeful that the imbroglio could be resolved, he said, “I would like to say that people of this State and even beyond this State want a solution to the Singur issue. People desire and deserve it and have full confidence in those concerned with the issue.” He was talking to reporters on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry which he inaugurated. In a bid to break the Singur deadlock, the governor had started with individual parleys with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in the Raj Bhavan culminating in the first ever face-to-face meeting between Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Ms. Banerjee. An agreement to work out a solution was also hammered on September 7.

However, that initiative came to naught with the committee set up to identify land within the Tata Motors plot failing to arrive at a consensus and Ms. Banerjee rejecting outright the rehabilitation package proposed by Mr. Bhattacharjee. Mr. Gandhi has held two more meetings with Ms. Banerjee and one with Mr. Bhattacharjee, but to little avail. At a meeting on Wednesday, focussing on small and marginal farmers, Mr. Gandhi had said land was a sensitive issue to farmers, adding there was need for a development dialogue in advance and not when a crisis is hanging overhead.

At the 153rd AGM of the chamber on Thursday, he sounded more philosophical saying that there was a need to give respect to what the word conveys not only in commercial conversations but also between social and interactive groups too. “In a society where there is an urge to read into words, importance much be attached to what is said. Integrity of words, faith and trust were key issues,” he said.