Mamata hikes monthly payment to Singur farmers

Five days after a Division bench in the Calcutta High Court struck down the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced here on Wednesday that the monthly allowance to be paid to “unwilling farmers” in Singur would be increased to Rs. 2,000 every month from July.

“Today [Wednesday] the State government has taken the decision to increase the amount to be paid to farmers in Singur every month from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 2,000. We hope it will suffice till the legal matters regarding the return of the land are sorted out,” Ms. Banerjee told journalists at the State Secretariat, citing the “high price rise” as the reason for the hike.

Ms. Banerjee, who made the announcement at a function to mark the first year of the Trinamool Congress-led government coming to power, said the decision to pay Rs. 1,000 to the farmers and agricultural labourers at Singur was taken on May 19.

The sum of Rs. 1,000 will be given to them for May and June. From July, they will be given Rs. 2,000. The distribution of rice at Rs. 2 per kilogram will also continue, Ms. Banerjee said.

The announcement comes even as murmurs of dissent are beginning to be voiced in Singur. While the verdict of the court, which went against the State government, has disheartened some, others are beginning to question why they have not received the benefits of the schemes already announced for them.

The State government announced that this allowance would be paid to the farmers of Singur as long as the case was pending in court.