Kolkata: Nano, the world’s cheapest car, may soon roll out of Singur in West Bengal after a two-week long dispute over farmland.
The West Bengal government and the Trinamool Congress have reached a consensus on resolving the land dispute. Sources tell CNN-IBN a new compensation package has been worked out according to which the government is likely to return around 200 acres of land in and around the factory to “unwilling farmers”. A committee will be set up to look into the land dispute.
Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, who leads protests against the car factory, will call off her agitation in 24 hours as part of the deal with the government, sources say.
Banerjee and Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee reached an agreement at their meeting in presence of Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi on Sunday. Gandhi will announce details of the solution in a while.
This is the first time the two leaders met following a bitter controversy over acquisition of agricultural land for the $25-million Nano project in Singur, about 40 km from Kolkata.
In the morning, Bhattacharjee first met the Governor individually. Left Front chairperson Biman Bose gave a statement that both sides had taken steps forward to resolve the dispute.
Banerjee then reached Rajbhavan at 1500 hrs IST and after more than an hour, Bhattacharjee joined her for talks.
The state committee of the ruling Left Front, after a meeting on Sunday, urged the state government to be more flexible and try to find more land, if needed, to resolve the issue.
In New Delhi, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat broke his silence on the controversy, saying his party wanted the Tata Motors to stay in West Bengal.
CPI leader D Raja told CNN-IBN the West Bengal government had offered a “meaningful dialogue” to solve the dispute. “This is a lesson for not only for West Bengal government but for all governments. When land is acquired for a project, consensus has to be arrived at. You have to win the confidence of people and of political parties,” he said.
The government had on Friday presented a package, including provision for shopping malls on a plot adjacent to the Nano plant, for those who had given their land.
After the protests intensified, and its officers and workers were threatened and manhandled, the Tata group last week suspended work at the factory, saying it will not put its employees at risk.
The factory employs some 800 people, including engineers from South Korea and Singapore. The company also threatened to relocate the project to some other state if the protests continued.
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