After her meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, noted social activist Medha Patkar said on Friday that Tata Motors’ authorities should be more liberal in the issue of returning the land of farmers in Singur. The meeting took place at the State secretariat, Nabanna.
After the Calcutta High Court struck down the State Government’s Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, the case is now in the Supreme Court. The law was enacted by the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) government to return a portion of the land acquired by the Left Front government for the Tata Motors’ small car factory to ‘unwilling’ farmers.
“I have discussed the issue of returning the land of Singur farmers with the Chief Minister,” said Ms. Patkar, who is leading the agitation against the Gujarat Government’s effort to increase the height of Narmada dam.
Earlier in the day, Ms. Patkar urged Ms. Banerjee to stop the possible changes to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre. Ms. Patkar was taking to reporters on the sidelines of an event in the city.
“We think Ms. Banerjee should stop the changes that Narendra Modi and Nitin Gadkari are trying to bring to the Land Acquisition Act,” she said. She claimed that under the Section 24 of the new Land Acquisition Act, Ms. Banerjee had the “capacity to return land to farmers in Singur.”
Ms. Patkar pointed out that the movement in Singur played a crucial role in AITC’s coming to power in the State. “Therefore, she should ensure that their lands are returned,” she said.
Ms. Patkar’s National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) was involved in the anti-land acquisition agitation in 2007 in Singur, spearheaded by Ms. Banerjee.
The NAPM also supported the AITC movement against land acquisition in Nandigram in Purba Medinipur.
