Bengal plans survey to return Singur land

SC had ordered govt to return land in 12 weeks

 Within a day of the Supreme Court order on returning the land at Singur to farmers, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee  initiated the process by announcing a survey.

 The apex court on Wednesday ordered that the land acquired from farmers by the Left government in 2006 will have to be returned within 12 weeks.

Stating that a notification will soon be issued to start the process of returning land, Mamata told reporters at the state secretariat that the land survey will be completed over the next two weeks and the land will be returned after the government has made the land suitable for agriculture over the next four weeks. Earlier in the day, the chief minister held a meeting with top bureaucrats, ministers and district officials to chalk out the plan of returning land.

“We will follow the Supreme Court’s order to the letter and take all the necessary action. We respect the apex court’s order and it’s our intention to fulfill the commitment within the prescribed time frame,” Mamata said. She pointed out that the land will be returned to farmers. The government has cleared the land of an electric sub-station, which was set up within the factory area on the acquired land. Around 1,000 acre of land was acquired at Singur during the Left Front regime in 2006 to help Tata Motors set up its Nano factory.

Mamata, who will address a public rally at Singur on September 14, said that the farmers will get back the same plots they had before the land was acquired. She added that the compensation amount for the “unwilling” farmers, who refused to give up their land despite compensation, will be handed over the full amount as the money has been lying in the state treasury for the last 10 years. The question on everyone’s mind has been the cultivability of the land, since the low-lying area was filled with fly ash, garbage and sand before the plant was constructed. Mamata, however, assured that the government will return the land in a condition where they can start cultivation.

“The government will turn parts of the land that is no longer cultivable into a condition where agricultural work can be resumed,” she said, without elaborating on the plan.