Naxals warn Tatas of economic blockade
Automobile giant Tata Motors, currently fighting a legal battle in the Calcutta High Court against the West Bengal government over the unilateral acquisition of land at Singur, has suddenly woken up to a macabre threat by naxals.
The naxalites have warned if the Tatas fail to withdraw the High Court case over Singur within a week, it should prepare itself to face an economic blockade of its steel plant in the neighbouring Jamshedpur.
“If the Tatas persist in turning the Singur farmers economically disabled through their means of exploitation and terror, we’ll be forced to consider slapping an indefinite economic blockade of Tata Jamshedpur plant and other factories in the neighbourhood and elsewhere in the country,” said Vikram, a spokesman of the CPI(Maoists) Bengal Chapter, on Saturday.
Tata Motors moved the Calcutta High Court last week,challenging the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, triggering a legal war with the Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal. The Tatas moved the court of Justice Soumitra Pal against the Act after the Bengal government put up notices at the gate of the abandoned factory in Singur taking possession of the land. All the 54 vendors of the aborted Nano car project of Tata Motors also moved the court against the Hooghly district magistrate’s notification.
Tata Motors also demanded a status quo on the distribution of land from the state’s Advocate General who told Justice Soumitra Pal that he would communicate the views of the state on Monday.
