With the Singur verdict having stirred the proverbial hornet’s nest the land losers of Rajarhaat, Bolpur, Burdwan, Raghunathganj in Purulia and Siliguri have started agitations seeking return of their lands.
The ironic coincidence comes almost in tandem with the Mamata Banerjee Government’s decision to blast off the Tata Nano site at Singur.
The Government sources said the pillars of the imposing shed of the car factory were so deeply rooted that it was not possible to dig them out manually. Hence the Kolkata Corporation experts have been employed to blast off the concrete pillars which are 70-feet-deep.
“We are using dynamite to blast off the shed,” a senior official said but refused to answer whether the process of pulling down an industrial unit would send the right signals to the world when a cash-starved Government has almost knelt down before the investors to sink money into West Bengal.
The coincidence was also ironic as the blast of Singur site coincided with voices — encouraged by return of Singur lands along with hefty compensation — seeking immediate restoration of their lands growing louder.
At Rajarhaat where today stands a sprawling smart city in the north-eastern fringes of Kolkata land losers demonstrated before the Housing and Industrial Development Corporation building demanding their lands back which were acquired when the left Front Government was in power.
The demonstrators agitated peacefully and said: “If the farmers of Singur can get back their land the rule should be applicable for us and we also want the State Government to return our land in Rajarhat.”
The land losers were not given proper compensation they said adding, “if the Singur farmers can get land back after a decade why can’t we.”
Farmers of Raghunathganj at Purulia where stands the Jindal Steel plant project, one of the largest in Asia, also raised similar voices asking for their land back as “we have not seen any industry coming up here. We gave the land for industrialisation so that we could get jobs. But that purpose having failed we want out lands back.”
The Government sources said the industrial activities did not start in the area on account of global economic slowdown.
Curiously given to taste the same bitter medicine of so-called land movement the Chief Minister had to promptly order withdrawal of the sweetmeat hub at Burdwan which she had planned on a 10-acre land after the land losers asked for their lands back.
To keep Banerjee’s dreams alive the Government found out a few bighas of land as a proxy for the 10 acres for her dream “Mishti hub” or sweetmeat hub project.
Off to Bolpur near Shantiniketan in Bribhum the villagers demanded “either return of our lands or adequate compensation” for acres that were acquired more than a decade ago for an industrial park. Similar movements took place at places in Siliguri in North Bengal, sources said.