The Hindu : National : Tatas will return Singur land: Buddhadeb

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Tatas will return Singur land: Buddhadeb

Marcus Dam

KOLKATA: Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee reportedly affirmed at a meeting of leaders of the ruling Left Front here on Thursday that Tata Motors would return the land at Singur that had been leased out to the company for the Nano project which was however relocated.

“The Tatas will also inform the State government of the schedule of the land return,” senior leader of Revolutionary Socialist Party Manoj Bhattacharjee, who was present at the meeting, told The Hindu.

In all, 997.11 acres had been acquired by the government for the project.

The Left Front urged the government to take steps for setting up alternative industries at the site once the land was returned. For the landcould not be handed back as per law to the farmers from whom it was acquired for the Nano project.

“We have asked the State government to go ahead with its plans to set up industries at the site as the land there had been acquired for that purpose,” Biman Bose, Chairman of the Left Front Committee, said.

The government, in a statement last week, announced that an industry would be set up at the site for the overall development of Singur as well as for opening up new employment opportunities.It was exploring various options with this in mind.

Plan

Its plans to set up new industries in the area could, however, encounter stiff resistance from the Trinamool Congress and its allies, which have threatened to oppose any such move till the 400 acres of land (out of the 997.11 acres) acquired for the Tata Motors project is returned to farmers who had not accepted compensation for their plots that were acquired.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has said that she would lead a procession at Singur on November 2 in support of the demand of return of land to the farmers.

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