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National

Mamata meets industry chiefs

Special Correspondent

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday interacted with industry chiefs and chambers of commerce, urging industry as well as the Tatas to join her in her efforts to get back to farmers 400 acres of their land “forcibly” acquired at Singur for the Tata Motors car project. Ms. Banerjee said she had recently received a letter from Tata Motors but declined to divulge the contents, which she said were confidential.

At the 90-minute interaction here, which was open to the press the Trinamool chief said, “Please persuade the government to take a holistic view of things and return the land, let agriculture and industry smile together.”

“We want the project but let the government settle the issue politically,” Ms. Banerjee said even as she parried a question how the land, scattered all over the project site, could be returned.

She rejected the government’s stand on the legality of returning acquired land, saying that she, herself a lawyer, had checked and found that this would not be a problem. For, the landowners had not yet accepted compensation.

She was critical of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s decision to let his Industry Minister attend a meeting slated to be held on Wednesday with her party leader Partha Chatterjee, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. “Sending his Industry Minister is tantamount to employing delay tactics.” Ms. Banerjee said her emissary would go to the meeting with a proposal on offering alternative land in lieu of return of the 400 acres to farmers.

She appealed to the Tatas to remain satisfied with the 650 acres they had got for their project and to ask the government to return the remaining extent of land. “There is land elsewhere at Singur which is not so fertile, that land could be given.”

“We do not want to say Tata bye bye to either the Tatas or the Singur farmers, we want to see a smile on both their faces,” she said.

Tata Ryerson Managing Director Sandipan Chakraborty, who was present as chief of the Confederation of Indian Industry, eastern region, later told reporters that relocating ancillary industries would make it difficult for holding the Rs. 1 lakh price line for the people’s car.

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