The Hindu : Front Page : Tatas may pull out of Singur

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Thursday, Sep 25, 2008
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Tatas may pull out of Singur

Marcus Dam

Vendors moving equipment
Time running out, says Nirupam Sen

Kolkata: The spectre of Tata Motors pulling out of Singur loomed large even as there were reports on Wednesday of certain vendors moving out their equipment over the past few days from the project site, where work has remained suspended for more than three weeks.

Tata Motors, however, refused to comment.

Prakash Karat, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said here that he did not think the project would take off if there were further delays.

Time was running out and the company was suffering losses, State Industries Minister Nirupam Sen observed.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who is demanding return of land “forcibly” acquired from farmers, has meanwhile placed fresh demands before Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

Ms. Banerjee, who has rejected a package offered by the State government that envisages sustained economic rehabilitation for all farmers whose land has been acquired, demanded that Article 355 be invoked if the government failed to abide by the September 7 “agreement” on the return of land.

Mamata meets Governor

She, along with leaders of parties who have joined ranks with her on the Singur issue, met the Governor.

Ms. Banerjee later told journalists that her impression was that “the Governor is very saddened” by the turn of events.

“He too wanted a solution to the problem and ensure a farm-factory balance.”

She remained firm on her demand that 300 acres from within the project site be handed back to farmers who had not accepted compensation for their plots.

The government made it clear that this was not possible, if the integral nature of the auto-cluster critical to the project was to be maintained as demanded by Tata Motors.

The former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) president H.D. Deve Gowda, who described the package offered by the government as a model for other States, appealed to all political parties to cooperate and solve the Singur problem.

“Opponents of the project are resisting it to fulfil their own political agenda,” he said.

Ms. Banerjee said: “I am willing to sit for a thousand discussions with the government if they are aimed at operationalising the agreement.”

She also demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the new compensation package being offered by the government to Singur farmers – one that she described as a “political, not government package.”

Buddhadeb voices concern over future of industrialisation

‘Singur can become another Jamshedpur’

Mamata threatens to resume agitation

Some signs of breakthrough on Singur

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