Mamata poised to redeem Singur promise

The state government will hand over ‘parchas’ to 9,117 farmers that establish their ownership over their pieces of land and distribute cheques among 800 farmers who had not taken compensation earlier protesting against the acquisition of land by the erstwhile Left Front government for Tata’s 

Nano project.

Lakhs of people will pour in to Singur from different parts of the state to celebrate with farmers, who will be getting back their rights after a decade-long struggle.

Partha Chatterjee, the state Parliamentary Affairs minister, held a meeting with senior administrative officials and police officers in the district to take stock of  preparations for Wednesday’s programme. 

Ministers including Firhad Hakim, Sovan Chatterjee, Aroop Biswas and Tapan Dasgupta, MP Mukul Roy and MLAs from the area Rabindranath Bhattacharya and Bacharam Manna also visited the area.

Partha Chatterjee said there is a great deal of excitement among the people. “ People from even abroad have enquired about the programme over phone and through social networking sites. They rued the fact that they couldn’t be in the city for this historic moment,” he said, adding that all MLAs and MPs have been informed about the programme. People who were involved with the Singur movement would also be present.

Taking a dig at the Left, he also said proper steps have been taken so that people do not face unnecessary trouble for silly mistakes in the compensation cheques that would be given to them on stage. 

“Ram will not get Rahim’s cheque as it had happened during the tenure of the Left Front government,” he said.  The minister added that the chief minister would personally hand over as many cheques and parchas as possible. There will be 10 camps from where ministers would continue distributing the same.

State Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim said: “Ten years ago people of Bengal were in a state where there was nothing other than oppression. Mamata Banerjee fought to establish the rights of common people. 

Now people are getting their rights and there is democracy in the state. Farmers are getting back the land taken forcefully from them by the Left. 

Singur Diwas is going to be a historical moment.” A 4,000 sq feet dais has already been set up near the spot where Banerjee was on hunger strike for 26 days, protesting the forceful acquisition of land by Buddhadeb Bhattacharya’s government. 16 surveillance cameras will be set up on and near the dais.

The Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will reach the venue at 3.30 pm, but people from the districts including Howrah, Kolkata, Burdwan, North and South 24 Parganas will start coming there from 11 am. Police have tightened the security, as lakhs of people are expected to turn up on Wednesday. 

There will be around 2,000 volunteers to help the police in crowd maintenance. Giant screens will be set up at various places in the area to help people watch the handing over ceremony.

Meanwhile, the state government has urged Tata Motors to remove the sheds constructed for the Nano factory on the acquired land in Singur and to take away their belongings within the next seven days. 

Banerjee had said on Monday that state Finance minister Amit Mitra would talk to the Tatas and urge them to remove the sheds at the earliest as the land has to be handed over to farmers in a cultivable condition within 12 weeks as per the Apex Court’s order.