BackTrinamool Congress says Tata Motors welcome to return to Singur
The move signals the state's willingness to resolve its three-year-old dispute with the car maker outside of court
Premium
Kolkata: After demonizing industry by her fierce resistance to land acquisition, first as an opposition leader and then as West Bengal’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee is bending over backward to woo investors back to the state, and her first target appears to be the Tata group.
On Tuesday, Partha Chatterjee, West Bengal’s education minister and a spokesperson for the ruling Trinamool Congress party said Tata Motors Ltd was welcome to return to its abandoned Singur factory, signalling the state government’s willingness to resolve its spat with the car maker through discussions.
Previously on Monday, Banerjee met at her office in Kolkata top officials of various Tata group companies and promised them administrative assistance in acquiring land if they wished to expand their factories in the state.
Tata Metaliks Ltd is among many companies that have not been able to expand manufacturing units in the state because of opposition to land acquisition.
Even townships under construction have been scaled back since Banerjee came to power in 2011 because of her refusal to acquire farmland.
The sudden reversal in the state’s stance over land acquisition comes as the legal battle over Tata Motors’ Singur factory enters its last and decisive phase.
After seizing power from the Left Front in 2011, Banerjee redeemed her promise to her supporters and passed a Bill—her first after she formed the government—ousting the car maker from its Singur factory and seizing the 997-acre plot to redistribute it among displaced farmers.
In the wake of violent protests over land acquisition led by Banerjee, Tata Motors had in October 2008 announced its decision to move its Singur factory to Sanand in Gujarat, mothballing what was to be the first manufacturing base of the Nano car.
Tata Motors moved the Calcutta high court challenging Banerjee’s law—popularly known as the Singur Act—but lost in the trial court. Justice I.P. Mukerji of the Calcutta high court passed a so called curative judgement recommending some modifications in the Singur Act.
But an appeals court—a division bench of the Calcutta high court comprising judges Pinaki Ghosh and Mrinal Kanti Chaudhuri—dismissed the law as unconstitutional. The state government appealed the division bench’s judgement in the Supreme Court, and the last leg of hearing in the dispute is set to start in the apex court next month.
“The Singur Act is going to be defeated in the Supreme Court," said Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, a lawyer and a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Banerjee is holding out an olive branch as a face saver, he added.
Trinamool Congress’s Chatterjee said on Tuesday that he was hopeful that Tata Motors would return land to those farmers who protested the acquisition by not receiving payment.
“This will send a positive signal," he said, suggesting a settlement formula, which his party desperately needs having come to power riding on people’s anger at forcible land acquisition and promising to return land seized by the government.
Local Trinamool Congress leaders from Singur such as Rabindranath Bhattacharya, a lawmaker, said on Tuesday that Tata Motors needs to give back only 200-250 acres to displaced farmers whereas previously the state government had committed to return up to 400 acres.
“We can manage with 200-250 acres…the land will be proportionately distributed among those who want their land back," Bhattacharya added.
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!
