Singur's farmers discover the lie of the land

Unwilling land-losers to the Tata Nano project in Bengal remain the biggest victims of the politics that brought Banerjee to power

By Ishita Ayan Dutt  |  Kolkata  July 23, 2013

Business Standard, Columns

Singur has always been kind to Mamata Banerjee. First, it resurrected her political career. Then, just days before the panchayat elections this month, as angst over an unending wait for the return of land acquired for Tata Motors' small car project from farmers who did not wish to sell was growing, the Supreme Court suggested that the company return the land.

Banerjee and Singur share a history that dates back to 2006. On May 18, that year, a beaming Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who had just been sworn in for a second term as chief minister, announced - flanked by Ratan Tata and Tata Sons' brass at Writers' Buildings - that the project to make the world's cheapest car, the Nano, would be located in Bengal. "How do you like the beginning?" he asked reporters, a reference to his attempt to attract big business to Bengal. Little did he know that this signature project would mark the beginning of the end of the Left Front's 34-year dominance in the state.

It was Bhattacharjee's ambition to put Bengal back at the forefront of industrialisation, and he believed the Nano project was the first step towards realising it. Getting the project to locate itself on agricultural land about an hour's drive from Kolkata wasn't easy. Tata Motors' interest came with the rider that the state government should offer fiscal incentives equivalent to the value of those offered by Uttarakhand, whose backward state designation allowed it to deliver income tax and excise duty relief.

Naturally, the incentive package an eager state government devised for Tata Motors was extremely friendly. It offered the following:

(a) Industrial promotion assistance from the state industrial development corporation in the form of a loan at 0.1 per cent interest for amounts equal to the Value Added Tax and Central Sales Tax the Bengal government received on Nano sales in each of the previous years ended March 31. The loan, with interest, was to be repayable in annual instalments after the 30th anniversary of the plant starting sales.

(b) A 90-year lease for 645.67 acres at Singur at an annual rental of Rs 1 crore for the first five years. The rent would increase 25 per cent after every five years for 30 years; Rs 5 crore a year from the 31st year with an increase of 30 per cent every 10 years till the 60th year; Rs 20 crore a year from the 61st year to the 90th year.

(c) A loan of Rs 200 crore at 1 per cent interest repayable in five equal annual instalments from the 21st year.

(d) Electricity at Rs 3 per kwh. If the rates were raised more than Rs 0.25 per kwh in any block of five years, the government would provide relief through additional compensation to neutralise the increase.

It wasn't this package, which would have meant a significant forfeiture of state revenue, that exercised the politics of West Bengal as much as Banerjee's decision to make the discontent of 2,000-odd unwilling land-losers - who accounted for roughly 180 acres of land - the centre of her political campaign.

But from August 24, 2008, Banerjee and her party laid an indefinite siege to the area around the plant. She claimed unwilling land-losers accounted for 400 acres and not 181 acres as the state claimed. The 400 acres, she felt, could be retrieved from the vendors' park, which was adjacent to the mother plant, and the remaining 600-odd acres could be reserved for the project.

The demand was untenable to Tata Motors. To keep the cost of the Nano at Rs 1 lakh, it was imperative to maintain the integrated nature of the project. With Banerjee's energetic help, the protests reached such a pitch that Ratan Tata announced the headline-grabbing decision to relocate the project, which it did with even more fanfare to Sanand in Gujarat.

Despite this, Banerjee as chief minister never budged from her position. Hours after taking charge at Writers' Buildings, the state secretariat, she announced the Cabinet decision to return land to unwilling land-losers. After a flip-flop over an Ordinance, the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill was passed in the West Bengal Assembly on June 14, 2011, vesting the entire land allocated to Tata Motors and its vendors with the state government.

A week after the Bill was passed, Tata Motors moved court challenging it. The first round went to Banerjee. A Calcutta High Court single-judge order declared the Act valid. The Division Bench (moved by Tata Motors), however, set aside the single-judge order and struck down the Act, primarily because it was in conflict with the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. The state then filed an appeal in the Supreme Court.

It was while hearing an appeal challenging the quashing of the Act that the Supreme Court asked the Tata group to make its stand clear on the leasehold rights over Singur. But it is unlikely that the Tata group will give up the fight. It's not just about the land; for the group, it's as important to clear its name from the Banerjee government's allegation that it had "abandoned" the project, which is the basis for the Singur Act. In reality, the plant, at the time of pullout, was 80 per cent ready.

Tata Motors had invested over Rs 1,800 crore in developing and levelling the land, and constructed the plant in 13 months. Trial production had even started. "...no stone was left unturned to ensure that commencement of production happens in time to meet the targeted launch date of November, 2008," the company's petition to the court said. Thirteen vendors had also finished constructing their plants, and 17 others were at various stages of construction.

Hypothetically, even if the Supreme Court verdict goes against Tata Motors, returning the land would be well-nigh impossible. The land belonging to the unwilling farmers doesn't add up to 400 acres, as Banerjee has repeatedly claimed, and more importantly, it's scattered over the 997 acres. Then again, 11,000 farmers who willingly sold are likely to object if their land were bagged by unwilling farmers, when they had actually given it for an industrial project. Indeed, they, too, are in court challenging the Act.

Still, the court's comments have breathed fresh hope into the "unwilling" farmers of Singur. They have waited seven years. They took a leap of faith when Banerjee told them their land would be returned. But so far, they have neither received the compensation offered from the state government (because they refused to accept the cheques and thereby became unwilling) nor the land. They remain the biggest victims of Banerjee's populist politics.

Tata group not to leave West Bengal, says Cyrus Mistry

KOLKATA: Chairman of Tata Sons Cyrus Mistry today said that the group has no intention to leave West Bengal.

"Tatas have never left West Bengal. We will never leave West Bengal as a group," Mistry told shareholders at the AGM of Tata Global Beverages.

Mistry, who chaired the meeting for the first time after becoming the Chairman of Tata Sons last year, succeeding Ratan Tata, declined to make any comment on the Supreme Court's recent observations on Singur.

"The matter is sub-judice and we do not want to discuss at this stage," Mistry told reporters after the meeting.

The apex court had said that the Tata Motors should make its stand clear on its leasehold rights over the Singur land in the wake of the changed scenario as the company had already moved its Nano car plant out of West Bengal to Gujarat.

Tata group not to leave West Bengal, says Cyrus Mistry

Mamata’s Singur Law Declared Unconstitutional

CPI(M) Wants Fair Resolution

KOLKATA: THE Mamata Banerjee government received a jolt when the Calcutta High Court declared its Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act 2011 as illegal and unconstitutional. The state government had passed the act on June 13, 2011, exactly a month after the assembly poll results were declared, among apprehension that the move was not legally valid. On September 28, after a challenge by Tata Motors, a single judge bench of the Calcutta High Court upheld the validity of the act. But on June 22 of this year, Justices Pinkai Chandra Ghose and M K Chaudhury ruled that the act violated the constitution on three counts. First, it did not have presidential assent. Second, returning land to the original owners did not constitute public interest, and hence the land could not be vested by the government. And third, the act did not have any provision for compensation to Tata Motors for the losses they have suffered.

MOVE ILL-CONCEIVED FROM BEGINNING

The move by the state government was ill-conceived from the very beginning and it was more of a publicity stunt than any real intention to solve the Singur issue. The face of loss in court was compounded by the governor’s assertion that he had no idea that Singur legislation needed presidential approval. The governor said he had been given a legal advice on that line only. “I thought we did not require presidential approval. That was legal advice also,” Governor M K Narayanan told after three days of the court verdict. The governor’s public statement indicated that the state government had misled even him.

While criticising the attitude of the government, the CPI(M)  called for such a resolution of the problem as would defend the interests of the people of Singur.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau  member and West Bengal’s former industry minister Nirupam Sen observed that there should be a fair solution of the Singur problem without considering who had won or who was defeated. Sen said, “The factory in Singur was abandoned after completion of 90 per cent of works. It damaged the image of the state. Also damage was done to the people of Singur.”

Sen further said, “When we were in government, the then opposition (now ruling party) demanded return of land to the so called unwilling farmers. We took legal consultancy and observed that it was legally impossible. We wanted to start the factory after giving fair compensation to and rehabilitation of the farmers. But we failed to convince the opposition. We repeatedly told at that time that the so called unwilling farmers of ‘400 acres’ were just a myth. But a huge campaign by the opposition and a section of the media created confusion. Now that the new government has taken initiative to return the land, it was found that hardly 30 acres of land of the ‘unwilling’ farmers exist in realty. The entire state had to bear the cost of abandoning the project. When the new government wanted to push through the new bill in the assembly, we raised doubts about its legal validity. We told them to move after checking the legal points. But they refused to heed. And now the people of Singur are the worst sufferers as they lost both the factory and the land.” Sen appealed to the state government to take proper lessons and move forward in a manner so that an industry could be built there.

Leader of opposition in West Bengal assembly, Surjya Kanta Misra, said in his reaction to the court verdict, “We were for industry in Singur. But we were defeated. TMC has got the mandate of the people. In such a situation we did not oppose the move to return land if that was possible. But we repeatedly told the government, a year ago when the bill was moved, that proper legal method was necessary. We told the government that their hasty effort would come into conflict with the central law. There was no provision of differentiation between willing and unwilling farmers. It was better to add an extra clause to the central law, like Tamilnadu did. But the chief minister was not in the habit of listening to any advice. She thought her words were law. It is the state government which created the impasse.”

CPIM) state secretary Biman Basu criticised the state government for not heeding to advice of the opposition and not taking care about legal implications. Basu also questioned how the governor gave his assent without cross checking the legal option.

Few claimants for seized Singur land

The district administration, which continues to scrutinize applications, expects only about 300 more valid claims to emerge from among near 2,000 lodged with it

Romita Datta

LIVEMINT, Posted: Sat, Aug 13, 2011. 12:33 AM IST

Kolkata: Only about 300 protesting farmers have so far managed to establish, with valid legal documents, their “rightful title” to the land seized from them in 2006 for Tata Motors Ltd’s small car factory in Singur. Their collective ownership is 40 acres at the most.

The state government gave farmers a month’s time till 22 July to file applications with the Hooghly district administration to reclaim land that they were forced to give up for the factory. The district administration, which continues to scrutinize applications, expects only about 300 more valid claims to emerge from among near 2,000 lodged with it.

Under the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, the first law passed by the newly elected Trinamool Congress government of the state, the administration seized the 997-acre plot allotted to Tata Motors and its component makers, with the aim of redistributing it among farmers. The Act named some 2,200-odd farmers as eligible to reclaim land, and their collective ownership was pegged at around 300 acres.

The Act said only those farmers who protested against the 2006 land acquisition for the now-abandoned Nano car factory by not receiving payment from the state government were entitled to reclaim as much land as was seized from them.

These people, named in the Act, were asked to file applications with the Hooghly district administration with proof of ownership, but it now appears that a “large majority” of these erstwhile landowners have no documents to establish their title to the land.

“So far, applications of only about 310 people have been found to be valid,” said Rabindranath Bhattacharya, a Trinamool Congress legislator from Singur and the state’s minister for agriculture. He was also one of the key leaders of the Trinamool Congress-spearheaded agitation against the factory.

“Going by the trend so far, we expect the number (of valid applications) to rise by another 300 at best,” he added.

District magistrate Sripriya Rangarajan refused to comment, saying she was busy dealing with the flood-like situation in Hooghly.

“A large majority of the applicants are unable to prove their ownership,” said Pulak Sarkar, Singur block development officer. “It appears from the hundreds of applications processed so far that a lot of people in that list (in the Act) have sold their land, and the people who currently claim to own these tracts of land have no document at all to establish their ownership.”

Moloy Ghatak, the state’s law minister and vice-chairman of an expert panel overseeing the land redistribution, said it would not be possible for the state government to return land unless people could establish their claim with valid legal documents.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has said that at least 400 acres of land was forcibly seized by the erstwhile Left Front government of the state. She demanded the return of 400 acres to the erstwhile owners, and didn’t budge from it, forcing Tata Motors to pull the plug on the Singur project.

According to the records of the state’s land and land reforms (L&LR) department, erstwhile owners of some 51 acres couldn’t claim compensation because of ownership being under legal dispute. Erstwhile owners of around 90 acres were found to be living abroad, and didn’t bother to collect compensation.

“To be realistic, only a little over 150 acres could be redistributed among local farmers in the best case scenario, but it now seems that only about 70-80 acres would be reclaimed,” said an officer of the L&LR department, who did not want to be named.

“We don’t know yet if people who live abroad have reclaimed land; if they have, the figure could go up, but only marginally.”

Incidentally, the erstwhile Left Front government had offered to carve out 70 acres from the plot allotted for the small car factory, to be developed and redistributed among all farmers forced to give up land for the project. It also offered to sweeten the cash compensation.

But Banerjee spurned the offer and continued to protest, which eventually led to the factory being moved to Sanand in Gujarat.

romita.d@livemint.com

Farmers divided over Singur land bill

Priyanka Gupta

CNN-IBN

Updated Jun 17, 2011 at 04:25pm IST

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Singur Bill seems to have opened a Pandora's box. More than 10000 willing farmers handed over their land to the Tatas for compensation and a job. They are now prepared to take the government to court over the bill.

Sixty-year-old Swapan Kumar Das, one of the farmer who exchanged his land with the Tatas for compensation and a job for his son Soumen, feels cheated. 15 days from retirement at Singur, he's not looking forward to rest after decades of work. Instead, he is bracing himself for uncertain times.

Swapan Kumar Das said, "We have lost everything either way. We thought we will get jobs because there will be an industry and I spent the money to build my house. My son trained for the Tatas for two years like others and now he has no job and he is too old to study."

More than 10,000 people willingly gave up their land for the Singur project of the Tatas. Uday Das a local doctor is one of them. He is now leading those farmers who believe they are victims of both the Left and the TMC-led governments.

"We will challenge the bill in court because it is not fair. One government makes a decision, another government comes makes another decision. What about us! Why should we suffer in between?" said Uday Das.

Another farmer Rabindranath Bolen who exchanged his land with the Tatas is upset over the fact that his land will be given to someone else.

"Why should my land be given to someone else. I gave my land for industry not to give to someone else. Where is the public purpose in this?" said Bolen.

On the other hand, those farmers who struggled for six long years to get their land back have openly welcomed the bill.

Mahabir, a farmer who had to unwillingly give up his land, said, "We have fought for so many years and lived in poverty, this bill promises that we will get our land back, but why should they who took the compensation and willingly gave up their land now crib? You can't have it both the ways.

With several promises being made and broken, the Singur chapter has become a turbulent one for Bengal, with all eyes now on Mamata Banerjee to see if she can keep the people of Singur from being divided.

We regret not being able to do what we wanted to do, says Ratan Tata

By Indrani Dutta

Kolkata: West Bengal is very much a part of the Tata group's identity, said Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata on Monday, regretting that it could not do what it wanted to do in the State.

Mr. Tata was in the State on the occasion of the annual general meeting of the group company Tata Global Beverages (formerly Tata Tea). In response to a query whether the Tata group was planning to leave the city, he said: “We have not exited Calcutta. Our visits may be less. But we have a very warm feeling for this part of the country.”

The Cancer Centre which is coming up at New Town in Rajarhat in East Kolkata is likely to be dedicated to the people this year. “We hope it will save many lives,” he said.

He scotched rumours that investment in the State was being curtailed: “We have not changed our views in terms of investments. In fact we have increased our investment in the hospital and I hope that before the hospital comes up, those elements in Calcutta that may feel alien towards us will understand that we are still very much Indian and West Bengal is very much a part of our total corporate identity.”

Mr. Tata had a 45-minute session with West Bengal Governor M. K. Narayanan at Raj Bhavan. He also visited the Cancer Centre.

After the Tata Tea AGM in 2009 he had addressed a hurriedly convened joint press meet with State Industry Minister Nirupam Sen to reiterate that all other group investments were on track. The shareholders' fresh apprehension stems from the fact that the erstwhile Tata Tea has shifted its operational base to Bangalore. “We started in Calcutta, our head office remains in Calcutta.” he said.

Asked why the company was continuing with its listing at the Calcutta Stock Exchange, he said: “It is a respect for our roots. Our presence in the Calcutta Stock Exchange is a mark of respect to the place where we began. We do notice that there is little or no transaction but that listing we will keep.”

Since the announcement of relocation of the Nano project to Gujarat in 2008 following violent protests led by Trinamool Congress over land acquisition, the Tata Sons chief has had to reassure the State's people time and again about the group's abiding interest in West Bengal as an investment destination.

Industrial Project at Singur Would Create Jobs

B Prasant(INN): Any industrial project at Singur in Hooghly district would produce employment, and thus such endeavours are welcome. This was how Biman Basu, CPI (M) Bengal secretary, and Bengal Left Front chairman chose to comment on December 8 at the Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan, on the recent development around Singur.

The occasion Biman Basu referred to was a letter sent by the state Left Front government to the ministry of railways where a specific industrial proposition has been made. The proposal to the ministry is crafted around the setting up of a railway coach factory on the land at Singur from where the Tata group had earlier withdrawn its small car project, thanks to the anarchic moves by the Trinamul Congress and its lackeys plus the ‘Maoists,’ to stall the scheme on various anti-development ploys.

In another related matter, Biman Basu said that if a nuclear power project would be set up at Haripur in coastal Bengal, and with every safety precaution firmly in place, such a proposal from the union government would be favourably considered.

When Basu’s attention was drawn to the reported statement of a central minister affiliated to the Trinamul Congress about his determination to thwart such a step, he said that any obstacle put on the progress of a developmental project would be akin to blocking development itself.

Biman Basu continued to say that such statements by the Trinamuli leaders once again proved how the main opposition party in Bengal remained firmly anti-development. The senior CPI (M) leader called upon the union government and the Congress leadership to pause and think about the role of one of their governmental allies on the issue of development.

Small car big factor for urban vote bank

5 May 2009, 0253 hrs IST,

Prithvijit Mitra, TNN

KOLKATA: As the afternoon sun beats down mercilessly on a crowded, treeless Kasba Road, Ajay Dhar crouches under the tin shed of a tea-stall. Sipping from an earthen cup, he wipes off beads of sweat from his brows and stares at an election hoarding that talks about the Nano's exit. "They also wanted the Nano, but not in West Bengal," it screamed. "It could have changed things here, at least to an extent. Who knows, some people could have got jobs," mumbles Dhar, a private firm employee.

The world's cheapest car that weaved a prosperity dream only to drive out dumping the state unceremoniously evokes myriad emotions in south Kolkata. Outside Singur, this is perhaps the only constituency where voters are faced with the Nano dilemma. Candidate Mamata Banerjee being the binding thread. Most roadside discussions and tea-stall adda sessions invariably veer around to the car.

And the reactions to the Nano episode are both varied and curious. From total indifference to despair for the loss, south Kolkatans can't get over the Nano. "There are more relevant issues. Roads, water supply and traffic problems. But you can't wish away the Nano for it reflects the candidates' views on industrialization and their priorities. Nobody knows if the Nano would have made a difference. But it did make people dream and its abrupt end has left many disappointed," said Mohammed Qasem, a primary school principal from Kidderpore.

Tapas Jana, a private firm employee from Kasba, agreed. Jana had been saving money to buy the car. He has lost interest following "the ugly tussle" that it led to. "People like me can't afford any other car. But after all the trouble and the politics, it makes no sense," Jana said. It's not just a missed opportunity for the middle-class, but an economic setback for the region, felt some. Artist Anup Bhattacharya was not planning to buy the car that is on display at a showroom less than a kilometre away from his Ballygunge home. "But we needed it for the sake of our youngsters. It could have created a few more jobs. In this employment-starved zone, even a 100 jobs are welcome. It would've served as a starting point for industrial revival," rued Bhattacharya, munching on a biscuit at the Kasba tea-stall. But would the Nano influence voting? South Kolkatans doubted it. But it will definitely be on every voter's mind as they press the button.

A car can't be an election issue even if its costs a lakh, felt social worker and pottery designer Anupama Jalan. Sitting at her Alipur residence, she said it was strange that the Nano had become the talking point in a constituency plagued by numerous civic problems. "I see everyone discussing the car, probably because Mamata Banerjee is the candidate. There are so many issues that are far more important roads, garbage clearance and transport. Few can afford to buy a car," said Jalan.

The Nano effect will have a marginal impact on voting, agreed independent candidate Nishat Khan. Moving around in his hoodless jeep, Khan has been interacting with voters all over the constituency. A banner on the vehicle exhorts people to vote for him for better civic amenities, higher literacy and a greener city. Nowhere has he encountered voters who were very bitter about Nano, said Khan. "But yes, it has been talked about. It is the middle-class and the lower middle class who are talking about it more. But it will disappear from their radar soon as the more immediate problems start tormenting them. CPM has planted it here to turn voters against Trinamool," he said.

April 9 date for FAW team visit

KOLKATA: The Nano dream is buried. But hope still flickers in Singur. With Tata Motors pulling out of Bengal, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government is gearing up for a meeting with a delegation from the Chinese automobile major, First Automobile Works (FAW). The team will arrive in the city on April 9.

The five-member FAW delegation's visit to the city is actually a follow-up exercise. In November last year, a team of company officials met the chief minister. FAW has already signed an agreement with Ural India, an Indo-Russian joint venture company, in which the WBIDC has 11% stake. Last week, state commerce and industries secretary Sabyasachi Sen had been to the FAW car factory in China and inspected the truck assembly line. Sen also held talks with FAW officials over their investment opportunities in Bengal, particularly in the small car, bus and truck segment.

The proposed small car (with engine capacity of 700 cc to 800 cc) would cost between Rs 1.6 lakh and 2 lakh. On Thursday, Ural India's chairman J K Saraf will meet the chief minister to do the groundwork for the proposed meet with FAW top brass. FAW officials are likely to visit the abandoned Nano compound in Singur next week. The CM does not want to miss the opportunity this time. In fact, the commerce and industries secretary is likely to submit a detailed report on the FAW assembly line so that the government can explore the possibility of setting up such a facility in Singur.

For, the FAW team is not interested in alternative sites at Kharagpur and Kalyani. The official said that FAW was also keen on setting up a plant in Haldia, close to the Ural factory, which is now manufacturing trucks and other heavy vehicles for the army and police, along with dumpers. Ural director Aniruddh Kanoi, who had been to China to meet FAW officials, said they are willing to go for truck, bus and small car factories in Bengal. "If the plot is big enough, bus, truck and small car can be produced from the same place."

The company has already had similar offers from other states, including Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Haryana. "The proposed support from the end of the Bengal government can only help us to decide the destination," Kanoi said. FAW is ready to invest Rs 1,500 crore for their auto factory.

Scope for Tata Motors to return to Singur

KOLKATA: There may be a possibility of the Tatas using the Singur facility later, if local objections can be resolved through dialogue, West Bengal Industry Secretary Sabyasachi Sen has said.

“We have lost the chance of being the first production unit of Nano. However, there may be a possibility of Singur also later, if local objections can be resolved through dialogue because ultimately Tata Motors may go for more than one production unit in India. But the decision rests with Tata Motors,” he said in a statement.

Mr. Sen made these comments in Malaysia where he is on a trip to promote the State as an investment destination. He said several automobile companies there were keen to enter India.
“We told them that the government will provide support to any investment decision and West Bengal has good potential for the small car segment.”

However, even as Mr. Sen was renewing the State government’s efforts to attract industrial investment, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee thundered at a meeting which was being held jointly with her new-found ally, the Congress.

She said an investigation should be launched to find out how the State government was proposing to bring in another company on a plot of land which had already been leased out (the lease with the Tatas still exist).

Singur people want Nano back: Buddhadeb

KOLKATA, Saturday, 28 March , 2009: Global auto major Tata Motors may have moved out its Nano plant from the state but the people of Singur still want the project, says West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. "People of Singur want the factory over there, they are very hopeful and I have conveyed this to the higher authorities of the Tata Group," Bhattacharjee said in an interview to a private regional news channel here.

Singur, 40 km from here in the state's Hooghly district, had turned into a battleground for about two-and-a-half years since May 2006 after the state government allotted land for the Nano project. On Oct 3 last year the company announced it had scrapped its plans to bring out the small car, priced at Rs.100,000, from the Singur facility. The plant was shifted to Sanand in Gujarat.

Tata Motors wound up its Singur plant following sustained protests by a Trinamool Congress-led farmers agitation demanding return of 400 of the 997.11 acres acquired for the project. The agitators alleged that the 400 acres were forcibly taken by the government from farmers unwilling to part with their land.

"I am trying to set up a factory in that plot in Singur. We have already spoken to a few Indian as well as foreign companies. In fact, now our industry secretary is in China talking to a company over there," the chief minister said. He, however, said whichever company sets up a plant in Singur, the government would ensure that it generates as much employment as the Nano project was supposed to do and "if possible even more than that". "It is very important that the youth of the state get employment," he said.

Talking about land acquisition and the compensation that was provided by the government to the farmers of Singur who gave their land for the Nano project, he said: "Around 85-86 per cent of the farmers have taken compensation and of the remaining 10-15 per cent many do not stay in India and few others don't have proper papers of the land. That means the number of unwilling farmers were really small."

"I failed to make the opposition understand the meaning of ancillary industries. They didn't understand that this was an integrated project and 400 acres cannot be given away like that. Giving away 400 acres would have meant stalling the project," he added.

Referring to the meeting between the Left Front government and the Trinamool at the behest of Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi Sep 7 on the issue, Bhattacharjee said: "We didn't sign any deal that night regarding the land in Singur. It was a joint statement in which we stated that we will give back as much land as possible keeping the project intact.

"Later our officials did a detailed study and found out 70 acres from the project, which we were ready to return keeping the nature of the project intact," he said. He said the Left Front government did not believe in using brute force. "In Singur, 80 per cent work was done and we thought we could start the factory. But after the attack on engineers we had to resort to applying force. Otherwise we didn't have any problems with the agitation that the opposition was doing, had they been doing it in democratic way," Bhattacharjee said. He said his government was against using fertile land for industrialisation. "But there is only one per cent fallow land available in the state and it is not possible to set up all the industries on it," Bhattacharjee said.

Regarding the police firing in Nandigram March 14, 2007, he said: "I will always feel sorry for what happened in Nandigram March 14. Police did not go there to torture the locals, they went there along with people of the municipal department to repair road. We even had sought opposition's help that day. But suddenly everything changed and so many people died in the clash."

The state government's efforts to set up a chemical hub project in Nandigram also came unstuck in 2007 following stiff resistance from the Trinamool-led farmers. The project has now been relocated to Nayachar island near Haldia in East Midnapore district. Singur and Nandigram are exceptional cases and do not reflect the trend in the state, the chief minister said. "In Nayachar, we are trying to start work as fast as possible," he added.

Left goes digital, scripts Nandigram, Singur stories to win back rural Bengal

Express News Service

Posted online: Mar 28, 2009 at 0445 hrs

Kolkata : Stung by the growing strength of Trinamool Congress in rural West Bengal as exhibited in the last year’s panchayat polls, the ruling CPI(M) is now banking on digital mediums to reach to its grassroots supporters.

The CPI(M) does not want to make the two episodes - the Nandigram and Singur debacles — its Achilles’ heel and hence it has created CDs to put across the party’s view on industrialisation to the voters. All the 26,000-odd party units throughout the state have been asked to show the audio-video CDs in their respective areas.

“The idea is still in a preliminary stage,” says CITU state president Shyamal Chakraborty, in-charge of producing these CDs, adding that the party will produce a full length film on the issue.
Another reason for adopting the modern mass communication tool is that the CPI(M) lacks crowd-pullers and stalwarts like Jyoti Basu, sources say.

So, the party’s election strategists have decided to take the help of modern equipment to attract voters, especially the young voters in rural Bengal. The party has already produced a CD comprising Basu’s speech which will be distributed after April 16. “More are coming. The party has planned to make CDs of the conflict areas in Bengal politics,” said a senior leader of the CPI(M).

On Friday, one of the CPI(M)-backed directors of a city theatre gave a sneak preview of the proposed film on Singur to a select group of CITU leaders. “First, we will see this and then it will be distributed among the supporters,” said CITU state secretary Kali Ghosh.

Sources in the CITU said the rushes contain details on the case of Suhrid Dutta, who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on charges of masterminding the gruesome murder of teenager Tapasi Malik. “The film will show how he was implicated in the case,” said a leader. “Suhrid Dutta’s case has tarnished the image of the party, so we have to react. We think this issue is still alive in the minds of the people,” he added.

Sad day for people of West Bengal: Nirupam Sen

Kolkata, 23rd March: The commercial launch of Nano from Mumbai rather than Singur in West Bengal was a sad day for the people of the State, West Bengal Minister for Commerce and Industry Nirupam Sen said. Addressing a press meet at the party office here on Monday, he hoped that the people of West Bengal would definitely respond against the ‘destructive politics’ practised in Singur and which culminated in the ouster of the project from the State.

“Nowhere in India, this type of destructive politics is played,” he said. The momentum that the proposed project had imparted to the State’s industrialisation drive was dampened by the exit, he said. To a question, he said it was unfortunate that a national party had tied up with such a political party. He said there was a need to analyse how the people of West Bengal benefited either by the agitation or the subsequent exit of the small car project. “An evaluation is necessary.”

Responding to another question on the main Opposition leader’s indifference to the exit of the Nano project from the State, Mr. Sen said this clearly showed the dichotomy between the slogans now being raised by that party in favour of development in the State and the stark realities. “The role of the Opposition party and some of its allies during that agitation was dangerous as it was unfortunate,” he said.

Mr. Sen rued that the dreams of the State’s youth were shattered, adding that the irresponsible action of the political party had tarnished the State’s image before the world. Answering a question on land acquisition in Singur, he refuted the suggestion that the Land Acquisition Act was applied mindlessly, saying that everything was done in a transparent manner. “Has anyone applied the RTI Act to find out what concessions the Gujarat government offered to locate the Nano project in the State?” he asked.

He said the Tatas had said they would take between 10 and 12 months to dismantle their structures at Singur. He also hoped that future investment by the Tatas in the State would not be hampered.

Singur mourns as Nano rolls out from Mumbai

Singur (West Bengal),22nd March : The abandoned factory stands as a silent reminder of the frenzied activity and the air of expectancy one saw here less than a year ago. The prevailing feeling now is of loss and sadness as the Nano prepares to roll out far away in Mumbai Monday.

A big burden for Tata
The cluster of buildings that was once designed to roll out the revolutionary little Nano is now enveloped in darkness - symbolic of the state of mind of those in this rural hamlet who bemoan the loss of the prized project to Sanand in Gujarat.

Facts about Nano
From the rickshaw puller at the local Mankundu railway station to the tea stall owner in the vicinity of the factory, the general feeling is of dejection. But the sharp political polarisation in the area ensures that there are quite a few with a different viewpoint too.

The Nano team
On Oct 3 last year, global auto major Tata Motors announced that it had scrapped its plans to bring out the world's cheapest car from the facility at Singur, 40 km from state capital Kolkata. The plant was shifted to Sanand. "I used to earn Rs.200 daily ferrying the Tata Motors employees from the railway station to the factory gate after construction of the plant started... But now, with the project scrapped here, my earnings have become less than half," said Rasik Dey, a rickshaw puller.

Dibakar Das, a farmer who gave five acres for the Nano project in Hooghly district, told IANS: "It is really sad that the project didn't come up over here." "The project could have changed the financial condition of Singur, but the destructive protests by the opposition did not allow the project to take place." The Hooghly district area had turned into a battleground for about two and a half years since May 2006 after the state government announced the Tata Nano project.

A section of farmers, led by main opposition force Trinamool Congress, carried out a sustained agitation demanding return of 400 acres of the acquired 997.11 acres to farmers who had been unwilling to give land by relocating the ancillary units. But the Tatas, who spent Rs 1500 crore in Singur for the project, were against relocating the auto-component units in the integrated project, saying it would increase the production cost of the car priced at only Rs.100,000.

"It's very unfortunate that the project is not happening over here. They (opposition parties) assaulted them (Tata Motors engineers) and forced them to leave the state," Balai Sabui, a Communist Party of India-Marxist leader in Singur, told IANS. "The factory was almost complete. But the opposition made them abandon the project. It would have helped in the economic development of the state," Sabui said.

He rued that the hopes of the local youth were crushed, as the project had the potential to generate huge employment. Apart from the mother plant, the project was scheduled to house 56 auto-components companies. But the Trinamool Congress does not seem to be missing the little Nano. "This is just like any other commercial product launch for us," Sougata Roy, Trinamool Congress leader told IANS.

Asked whether the party feels bad that the project, which could have been a showpiece for the state, had to be shifted elsewhere, he said: "We would not have been happy had the project come up in the state at the cost of the tears of so many people."

Land alloted in Singur not cancelled: Buddhadeb

KOLKATA, 19 Mar 2009: West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told the state Assembly on Thursday that the land lease agreement between WBIDC and Tata Motors for the 997 acres alloted in Singur had not yet been cancelled. But he also maintained that the state government is determined to use the Singur land for setting up a cluster of industrial units.

In response to issues raised in governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi’s inaugural address, Mr Bhattacharjee assured the House that his government was unwilling to deprive the people of Singur who had given land for the Tata Nano project. "Our government has received a host of proposals from both domestic and foreign investors who wish to set up their units in Singur. We are working on those proposals and will inform you about our plans after we take a final decision," the chief minister said.

Mr Bhattacharjee also claimed that "the Tatas were forced to quit Singur because of violent and destructive agitation by the irresponsible opposition party" in West Bengal. "Now attempts are being made to confuse the people on the utilisation of the land. Demands are also being made for return of the Singur land. This bit is certain that the land will not be returned as the character of the land has already changed and the land given to the Tatas cannot be used for agriculture. We will use the land for setting up new industry," Mr Bhattacharjee mentioned. "We don’t want to keep the Singur people in absolute darkness and we are very clear about the fact that land at Singur will be used for industrialisation," the chief minister said.

The chief minister also assured the House that his government would proceed with plans for setting up the proposed chemical hub at Nayachara. "Setting up the chemical hub at Nayachara is not our government’s proposal. The Centre had invited proposals from several states for setting up PCPIRs and we did not wish to miss the opportunity. The Cabinet in its last meeting had cleared the Nayachara chemical hub and we will proceed with this," the chief minister said.

Mr Bhattacharjee also said that he had thanked the external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and chemicals and fertiliser minister Ramvilas Paswan for clearing the Nayachara chemical hub. Interestingly, the principal opposition party, Trinamool Congress had boycotted the chief minister’s reply to the debate on the governor’s address. Trinamool Congress has already announced that they will oppose the chemical hub at Nayachara.

West Bengal government gears up for auto components park

Kolkata: After the Singur jolt, the West Bengal government is slowly making arrangements to house the state’s first auto components park in Guptamoni in West Midnapore district. A special purpose vehicle (SPV), floated by the developers of the project, has now started buying land directly from land owners in Guptamoni, some 127 km from here, a top official of West Bengal Industrial Infrastructure Development Corp (WBIIDC) told mediapersons Friday.

“The project started around a year back. The SPV is now purchasing land directly for the project from the land owners,” the official said.It is a joint venture project by WBIIDC and Bengal SREI Infrastructure Development. WBIIDC is an organisation of the West Bengal government for development of trade, commerce and industries in the state.

Bengal SREI is a joint venture between West Bengal Industrial Development Corp (WBIDC) and SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd. WBIIDC and Bengal SREI would develop the infrastructure and then invite auto component manufacturers to set up manufacturing units over there. Asked when the project would be completed, the official said: “It is too premature to talk about it now. We are still purchasing land.” The park would be spread over 500 acres.

The state government suffered a huge setback when global auto major Tata Motors pulled its Nano car project out of the state due to violent protests by farmers, who alleged that their land had been taken by the state government forcibly. The protests were led by the state’s principal opposition party, the Trinamool Congress. At Rs.100,000 ($2,000) Nano has been advertised as the world’s cheapest car.

Tata Motors acquired 997.11 acres at Singur in Hooghly district to construct the Nano car factory in 2006, out of which 400 acres were earmarked for building auto ancillary units. “No auto component company has approached us yet. The project is still at a nascent stage and the economic condition worldwide is also not very conducive,” the official said.

Plan to set up car unit at Singur with Chinese co

KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today held initial talks with representative of a Chinese automobile company to explore the possibility of setting up a car manufacturing facility at Singur.

The state government has been planning to set up an automobile manufacturing unit in collaboration with the Chinese company FAW, after Tatas left the state. FAW is one of the biggest manufacturers of truck in China. A senior official later said that it was decided that a team headed by the principal secretary of industry and commerce department would be going to China to finalise the deal with FAW about setting up an unit in Singur. “Whether it will be a manufacturing or assembling unit would be decided later,'' he said.

The state transport department has decided to buy 25 air-conditioned buses from Ural India Ltd to be operated in city routes. “We have decided to purchase 25 low-floor buses from Ural India Ltd and each bus will cost Rs 25 lakh,'' said Mr Subhas Chakraborty, state transport minister. He said that he would also ask the private bus owners to buy these low-floor buses as the state would soon phase out 15-years old buses. Earlier, Mr JK Saraf, chairman, Ural India requested the CM to introduce the buses that are being assembled by it.

Congress seeks new industries at abandoned Nano project site

Kolkata, 11 January: Hundreds of Congress activists on Sunday staged a road blockade in front of the abandoned Tata Motors small car factory site at Singur in West Bengal, demanding new industrial units in the area. The agitation continued for more than two hours near Khaserbheri area in Hooghly district, causing major traffic congestion on the Durgapur Expressway.

"We want new industries at the abandoned Tata Motors factory site at Singur. We do not know whether Tata will set up any factory there or any other company will come forward. But there should an industrial unit on the acquired land that is lying vacant for months,"said senior Congress leader Abdul Mannan, who led the agitators. Some industrial units should come up at Singur for the sake of those farmers, who willingly gave their land to the government for the Tata factory, he said, adding that if there would be no industrial unit at Singur, the state government should return the land to the farmers.

The automobile major last year announced it was pulling out its Nano small car unit from Singur, following a prolonged agitation by the opposition Trinamool Congress supporters demanding 400 acres out of the total area 997.11 acres taken for the project. Since its inception in May 2006, the project to roll out Nano, the Rs.100,000 car, encountered resistance from the Trinamool-led farmers protesting against the 'illegal' acquisition of the farmland.

SINGUR RALLY OF THIRTY THOUSAND CALL FOR INDUSTRIALISATION

TURN AROUND OF MIND-SET NOTICEABLE AMONGST VILLAGERS

SINGUR, 3rd December,2008: The morning haze still hangs in shreds – the fertile rural earth is just being warmed up by the somewhat weak and yellow sunlight, and it is 3 December. We move around the villages in and out of the vicinity of Singur, and beyond, in the Anandanagar Gram Panchayat, and speak to the rural folk.

The CPI (M) activists and mass frontal workers-- plus their family members – even the kids had joined in, a typical Hooghly tradition – were in the midst of preparing to be in their best turn outs for the early afternoon pro-industrialisation rally of the Left mass organisations opposite the motor car factory, now dusted over, and with a somewhat forlorn look.

Red Flags and banners are being pressed carefully with hot iron with great care and then neatly folded. The flag poles and the thinner flag staffs are oiled and then wiped clean. Fresh coats of cheap paint are brushed on the letterings that the buntings, the flags, and the banners carry, words that have the equally cheap whitish-coloured ‘undercoat’ the last evening.

The banners simply call for industrialisation, and for a stronger unity of the kisans with all other sections of the working masses. Men, women, children—all are hard at work and perhaps all of them found my urbane, inquisitive-to the-point-of-being-dilettante approach somewhat irksome.

Nonetheless, they do bother to respond to my prying queries. After all, this is a known old face they see. ‘What is the rally for, comrades and brothers? Is it a paalta (reaction and response) to the rally of the Trinamulis the day earlier?’ The response border on anger – indeed, I find anger to be the sentiment of the hour in the villages I walk around – ‘no. it is not.’

‘We have not done right’, they say, in unison in most instances, ‘by voting in the Trinamulis, at the last Panchayat polls a few months back. They do not want us to have a life that is better. We shall call for development – both in our green fields and in the yards of the large factory grounds that resembled a kabristan. We shall make it come alive, we shall ask the Left Front government and the Party to start industrial ventures there and beyond, and we shall not rest till we have these done -- and now please go, and leave us be.’ We leave and the ageing heart is now pleasantly warm.

No wonder the rally called under the aegis of the CITU, the AIKS, the AIDWA, the DYFI, and the SFI on a large stretch of cropped land opposite the small motor car factory yard, draw more than thirty thousand people who lustily roar out when the speakers talk boldly about re-starting, if necessary from scratch, and making the Singur factory yards hum again with the whirr of the machines-- and the people do derisively hoot when the leaders recall the Trinamuli chief’s ‘homely tale’ about ‘uprooting the factory premises’ and ‘making it a cabbage-and-potato patch.’ The mood has turned.

The speakers included central committee members of the CPI (M) Benoy Konar (who presided) and Shyamali Gupta, and state secretariat member Subhas Chakraborty along with Kali Ghosh (CITU), Samar Baora (AIKS), Minati Ghosh (AIDWA), Avas Roychaudhury (DYFI), and Dhruvajyoti Chakraborty (SFI).

By B. PRASANT

Tata Motors moves HC on Singur land allotment

Kolkata, 3rd December, 2008: Tata Motors has approached the Calcutta High Court against an RTI application seeking details of its agreement with the West Bengal government on the land allotment at Singur, from where the company has since moved out.

The company on Tuesday challenged before the High court the RTI Commissioner's competence to deal with the matter, with its counsel submitting before Justice Dipankar Dutta that the Right to Information Act was not applicable in case of an agreement involving industrial secrets.

Justice Dutta has scheduled the matter for hearing on Friday. The company said in its petition that as the Nano project has been shifted to Gujarat from West Bengal, there was no logic in seeking to know a deal which has fallen through.

Justice Dutta had on September 26 set aside an earlier order of the information commissioner here on Tata Motors' plea that it had not been given a chance to be heard by the commissioner before ordering revelation of the agreement. The court had then directed the commissioner to hear the matter afresh giving all parties fair chance to be heard.

However, after one hearing, Tata Motors moved the High Court again with the fresh plea and Justice Dutta took it up yesterday. The prestigious Nano car project was shifted to Gujarat following prolonged agitation by unwilling farmers demanding return of land.