Mamata all set to move the Singur land acquisition bill today

Learning from her mistake, Mamata Banerjee has grown wiser. Jettisoning the idea of an Ordinance, she is all set to move a Bill in the West Bengal Assembly today for taking over the entire 997.11 acres of land in Singur which was handed over to Tata Motors for the Nano car factory.

Interestingly, the CPM, taking a U- turn, has decided to support the land acquisition Bill, leaving Buddhadev in the lurch. It will only raise some objections as far as the modalities are concerned.

In moving the Bill, Mamata has deviated a little from the stand she had maintained ever since the West Bengal government acquired land for the Tatas. Previously her stand was that around 400 acres of land should be returned to those farmers who had refused to take compensation. But now she has decided to acquire the entire land under the Tata's possession.

This certainly amounts to a hardening of attitude. Political circles in Kolkata find it a little difficult to explain.

But sources in the Trinamul Congress point out that an earlier letter from the Tatas to the Buddhadev Bhattacharjee government expressing their unwillingness to go ahead with the project any more has provided Mamata with a potent weapon. However, according to one group of Trinamul leadership, the real reason for taking over the entire project area lies in the nature of ownership of land before the acquisition.

A little more than six hundred acres of land, on which the main car factory of the Tatas was scheduled to come up, belonged to mostly absentee landlords who did accept compensation from the state government. After Tatas carried out the construction, those six hundred acres have become unfit for any cultivation. Trinamul leaders point out that a cursory offer might be made to the Tatas now for re- launching their Nano project and in the event of their refusal Mamata is eyeing either a railway factory or ventures by any other industrial house there.

There is a strong possibility that the Bill will declare the entire land as "khas" or vested and the Tatas will be asked to remove their possessions.

The Tatas, or the other ancillary industrial groups, might ask for compensation, the quantum of which will be decided by an arbitrator who might be the District Judge of the Hooghly district under whose jurisdiction Singur falls.

Till the time computation of the compensation is complete the Tatas as well as the ancillary unit owners will get an interim relief of 6 per cent of their investment. If the Tatas do not vacate the land within the stipulated time then the District Magistrate of Hooghly will be at liberty to take possession of the land by force.