Farmers laud CM for bringing back their lands

Most of the farmers who received the compensation cheques and deed of land from Mamata Banerjee on the dais of Singur Diwas on Wednesday shared the same view saying that at present, the state government is taking several steps to help farmers augment their produce and at the same time stringent steps were taken to ensure maximum profit for farmers. The state government is opening up new avenues in the agriculture sector by introducing need based farming and setting up of more agro-based industries.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday announced that Rs 10,000 will be given to each of the farmers in Singur to help them initiate cultivation on the land that remained unused for the past one decade. A centre will also be brought up in Singur by the West Bengal Agro-product Development Corporation from where farmers would get a loan of Rs 24 lakh to procure equipments for farming at a much subsidised rate. Farmers could also hire the expensive equipments for farming in their lands from the centre.

“Thus there is no question of using the land that we have got back today (Wednesday) for any other purpose apart from cultivating crops. Earlier there used to be three to four crops a year on the plot that was acquired by the erstwhile Left Front government for setting up of Tata’s Nano project. It may take some time, but we are confident that the land will get back its characteristics,” said Alochaya Manna, who received the compensation and deed of land for her plot.

Manna said that her son, who was the lone earner of the family, had struggled a lot for the past few years in earning livelihood. He had to move from one place to another in search for a job. “So we are eagerly waiting for the day from when my son can start farming on our land for which we had been fighting for a decade,” she said.

A 30-year-old farmer Prosenjit Das, who also received deed of land on Wednesday, said that his father had 4 bigha land that was forcefully taken away by the erstwhile Left Front government. 

“Today (Wednesday) I am getting it back. There can be nothing better than getting back the plot as it will help us earn our livelihood and at the same time we can go for tie-ups with agro-based industries,” he said that the Supreme Court’s verdict in favour of farmers is not only the victory of the people of Singur but it has also paved a way for better days for farmers in the entire nation.

There were around 2,200 farmers who had not accepted the compensation earlier and fought against the illegal acquisition of land by the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya’s government and it led to dispute over 400 out of 997 acres of the acquired land. But the farmers who had accepted the compensation then, accepting the fact that industrialisation would be better than agriculture. But many of them on Wednesday admitted that they were wrong as the Left Front government hardly did anything for betterment of agriculture sector in the state and tried to fool people saying that setting up of industries is the only option to improve the state’s economy.