Mamata demands return of land at Singur by Dec 2

SINGUR,15 November, 2008: If the West Bengal government will not return the land acquired from farmers "not willing" to part with it for the now abandoned Tata Motors Nano project here by December 2, cultivation would be started on it, the Trinamool Congress threatened on Saturday.

"If the government does not return the land to unwilling farmers by December 2, potato, cucumber and vegetables cultivation will begin as the farmers will have to survive," TC chief Mamata Banerjee told at a party rally here. Banerjee said she along with other party leaders would begin token cultivation of vegetables on December two and thereafter farmers on a mass scale if the land was not returned by then.

She opposed the state government's efforts for Faw automobile company of China to start an industry on the plot and demanded that a global tender be floated for new industry there. "There should be transparency and accountability in the tender to be floated for selecting industry in Singur," she said.

Denying that she and her party were anti-industry, Banerjee, who had demanded return 400 acres of the nearly 1000 acres acquired for the Tatas, said she was sticking to her point that 600 acres was sufficient for an industry.

Deadlock continues in Lalgarh (Paschim Medinipur)

Agitators-officials talks inconclusive, will continue
Tribals arrested for blast cannot be freed: government

KOLKATA, 14th November, 2008: Parts of West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur continued to remain cut off from the rest of the district on Friday, following protests by tribal villagers against alleged police excesses. Maoists are known to have a presence in the region.

Representatives of the agitators met local authorities to break the deadlock. The talks, held in the affected Lalgarh area, were inconclusive and would continue, Home Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakravarty said here. For more than a week, ever since roads were dug up and trees felled to set up roadblocks, access to Lalgarh has remained restricted. Supply of water, power and food has been severely disrupted.

The agitators are protesting against alleged police excesses during raids to track down those responsible for the November 2 IED blast in the region. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had a narrow escape that day as a powerful IED went off moments after his convoy passed through Kalaichandi.

Roadblocks have also been put up in the adjoining sub-divisional town of Jhargram and only a few were removed following Sunday’s meeting between leaders of tribal groups and the local administration. The district authorities assured the agitators that allegations of police excesses would be looked into and action taken against anyone found guilty.

But they were told that the demand for release of all tribals arrested in connection with the blast could not be met. Those in whose possession arms were found and against whom specific charges were framed would not be released, Mr Chakravarty said. Nor would the three camps of the Central Reserve Police Force, set up earlier in the region, be withdrawn. In Kolkata, senior officials and those from the police administration attended a review meeting held by the Chief Minister.

The government, which is keen on avoiding a Nandigram-like situation, has advised authorities in Lalgarh not to take any action that might precipitate a confrontation with the protesters. Asked about the situation at Lalgarh, Biman Bose, secretary, State Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said the move to apprehend those behind the blast was guided by the administration’s anxieties over the law and order situation and was not aimed at the tribals.The Congress has sought Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi’s intervention to facilitate restoration of normality in the area, said its legislature party leader, Manas Bhunia.