Singur farmers take up farming in former Tata Nano project areas

KOLKATA: Ahead of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's visit to Singur, the farmers of Singur have decided to show Banerjee how they have sown seeds in a few former Nano project areas that Tatas returned to them seven years later.

The farmers have identified four such proposed sites where farming has been done, despite those being infertile. Farmers have decided to procure high-end agricultural machinery to make the land fertile so that they can sow the seeds.

Senior officials of the district administration said that farmers have urged them to provide help so that they can plough the land. "We have provided all arrangements so that they can utilise the land for the farming purpose. In several plots where the farmers have been unable to resume farming, ponds have been developed to start fishing. The ponds are being developed under the Accelerated Development of Minor Irrigation Scheme of the state water resource investigation and development department," they said.

Sources in TMC said that Banerjee is also scheduled to hold an internal meeting with all the district leaders after her scheduled program. Mahadeb Das, who owns four bighas land at Singur, said: "After land was returned to us following the Supreme Court order, we waited for days to see whether the farming can be resumed .There was concrete, iron and stones in the soil. Three months back, we saw that farming can be done in a few areas ."