Mamata to distribute cheques to farmers

Over 9,000 Singur land deeds to be returned

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Monday she will return land to over 9,000 farmers in Singur by September 14.

After a high-powered meeting at the state secretariat, Mamata announced she will also distribute compensation cheques to around 800 farmers, who did not accept money in 2006.

Mamata, who hailed the Supreme Court verdict on Singur as a personal victory, will address a mega rally at the agricultural hamlet in Hooghly district on Wednesday, where she will return land deeds to 9,117 farmers and give away cheques. A Supreme Court division bench on August 31 had ordered the return of land to the original owners from Tata Motors.

The industry giant received 997 acres in 2006 from the erstwhile Left government to set up its proposed factory for Nano cars, but had to shift to Gujarat’s Sanand after a long-drawn protest movement by a section of local farmers, and later by Mamata.

Talking to reporters on Monday, she expressed hope that Tata Motors would cooperate with the government and shift out everything before the administration razes the factory. “We’ve taken the Supreme Court verdict sportingly and waited for 11 days for them to pull down the structure. I hope they too will accept the order,” she said.

Incidentally, Tata Motors was part of a recent delegation led by Mamata to the German auto hub of Munich, seeking foreign investment.

The chief minister said the administrative review meeting, scheduled for September 14, will now be held on September 29.

Following the meeting, Mamata said the land survey was almost completed and the BDO’s office had collected application forms for compensation from those whose land was acquired in 2006. Records are also being updated as per the 2006 survey of the land and land reforms department. The chief minister discussed the present condition of the land, which her government has pledged to return in a cultivable condition. Tata Motors had filled up the low-lying land with garbage and sand to build its factory.

Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress-run Kolkata Municipal Corporation ran into trouble over hoardings advertising the party’s ‘Singur’ victory in the apex court. The Left and Congress accused the civic body of wasting “much-needed funds” on “political grandstanding”.