"The chief minister has written to Tata requesting him to restart work at the Nano plant at Singur," Industry Minister Nirupam Sen told reporters in Kolkata. In his letter, Bhattacharjee promised to extend all help and cooperation to the Tatas. On speculation that the Tatas might shift their project from the state, Sen said the company had not yet taken the decision.
Now that the Left Front has cowed down to Mamata Banerjee's persistent pressure, it sends out a loud signal to their detractors -- unless you create nuisance in this state, you won't be heard.
The company had started test runs for engines at its Pune facility in September after it work was stopped indefinitely at its Singur plant from August 29, leading to the abandoning of the Singur project site on October 3.
Driven by poverty following suspension of work at an ancillary unit of Tata Motors small car project in Singur, a daily wage worker on Wednesday committed suicide at his village, close to the factory site.Sixty-five year old Sushen Santra consumed insecticide at Joymalla village, barely 100 yards from the site, and died at Singur hospital.Santra's wife said they were a poor family and they had no money left after work was stalled in the unit.
Almost all the political parties in the state barring the ruling DMK had opposed the project, besides a dominant section of the Nadar community, which was a considerable presence in the area.
NRI business tycoon Lord Swraj Paul has suggested that industrialisation is key to improving economic prosperity of locals. Singur was a good beginning for the industrialisation process of West Bengal. The car project will be beneficial for the local people as it would generate employment. Caparo Engineering India, the Indian subsidiary of Caparo Group UK, is putting up an auto component plant near the main plant of Tata Motors. It will make the body structure for Tata Nano.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said it was a 'moral victory' after the Supreme Court asked Tata Motors to make its stand clear on its leasehold rights on the land at Singur as it had moved its car plant out of the state.
In another sign of growing strains between Trinamool and Congress, Mamata Banerjee on Monday targeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for not calling her during the Singur agitation, saying it was perhaps not to annoy her arch rival, Communist Party of India-Marxist
There were no casualties; a part of the wall was damaged.
The Trinamool Congress rose like a phoenix from the Singur and Nandigram movements chipping away at the hold of the Left Front to sweep into the portals of power in West Bengal after 34 years of uninterrupted Marxist rule. The land agitation in Singur and Nandigram is widely credited for Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's meteoric rise and the dramatic change in her political fortunes
Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha leader Derek O' Brien met the agitating farmers at the Singhu border in the afternoon.
Land, the core issue of contention, is now being acquired selectively for the sake of setting up new industries and that too in areas where agriculture is weak.
Actor-turned-politician and sitting MP Locket Chatterjee has been fielded from Chunchura and another MP Nishit Parmanik from Dinhata. Also, a number of film personalities have been nominated as candidates in the high-stakes battle for West Bengal.
Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, who backed Mamata Banerjee in the Singur agitation, on Friday warned the railway minister against acquiring land in eastern Uttar Pradesh for the corridor project, saying there would be a 'bloodbath' against the move.
Singur divided between those who want Tata back and those who just want their land.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday filed her nomination for Nandigram assembly seat, where she will take on her former protege and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari and exuded confidence of winning it saying she has never returned empty-handed from the land of anti-farm land acquisition movement.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on hit out at West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for claiming that she was taking her job as railway minister lightly and said it was he who did not have "vision" for setting up the small car project at Singur.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday assured farmer leaders led by Rakesh Tikait and Yudhvir Singh of support to their agitation against the new agriculture laws.
At last, rays of hope have started shining on Singur factory land, which has been lying unutilised since the Tatas decided to shift their Nano factory from there on October 3, 2008, following relentless opposition by Trinamool Congress and its allies against the company's alleged 'illegal' acquisition of farm lands.
The project at Salboni was welcomed by people and political parties alike, manifested by festoons welcoming Sajjan Jindal from all parties along the road leading to the site. Jindal complemented the mood at the ceremony with his farmer-friendly speech. "Industry and agriculture go hand-in-hand. My father, O P Jindal, was a farmer and he told all his sons that no wrong must be done to farmers," he said.
The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday demanded from the West Bengal government that 300 acres of land should be given from within the Tata Motors project area in Singur to "unwilling farmers".
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Sunday night formally announced suspension of the 15-day indefinite dharna, saying a final agreement has been arrived at by the West Bengal government on the Singur issue."Since the government has found a formula for the solution of the Singur issue officially, I am suspending the dharna," she said from the dharna manch, addressing a big gathering of cheering party supporters.She thanked Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi.
Bajaj Industries chairman Rahul Bajaj on Thursday said the government should change the archaic land acquisition rules in India to deal with contentious issues like Singur.
Asked about rumours that the Chief Minister was holding talks with key investors on the Singur controversy, Dhoot said, "The CM calls me every three months to know the progress. The Videocon group was hopeful of land acquisition with its compensation package which includes land price, job assurance and equity in the project.
'The land is partly with the government, partly with the company. In the changed economic scenario, I cannot say how quickly another plant will come up there,' said West Bengal's Industry Minister Nirupam Sen.
'We are bothered about the people's problems. The government forcefully and illegally occupied the land at Singur -- that's why we opposed the forceful occupation of the land,' said firebrand political leader Mamata Banerjee, who forced the Nano project to move out of Singur.
Tata Motors Managing Director Ravi Kant spoke to reporters on the problems in Singur, the production site for the Nano, soon after announcing the company's quarterly results.
Alan Rosling, executive director, Tata Sons Limited, said on Monday in New York that it will be a sad day for the Tatas if the project to manufacture Nano, the company's Rs 1-lakh small car that has generated worldwide interest, cannot succeed in Singur, West Bengal.
The industry minister said the small car project could not come up if 400 acre was returned as demanded by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. Nirupam Sen, who had discussed the Singur project with Tata in Kolkata on Thursday night, said that the state government wanted to work out a solution and was was open for talks to find out an acceptable solution.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee asked authorities on Thursday to return land that was 'forcibly' acquired from farmers in Singur for the Tata Mators' project.
The protests are meant to highlight the plight of the hundreds of sharecroppers of Singur besides the 12,000 landowners whose land was acquired by the Bengal government for the Tata factory which is to make the small car.
An important political milestone during the year was the return of the Left Front to power with an over two-thirds majority.
Tata Motors expressed satisfaction over the progress of land acquisition for its proposed small car plant at Singur and plan to launch the vehicle in 2008 as scheduled.
Bhattacharjee, speaking at a function on the second day of the biennial national conference of the All India Lawyers' Union in Siliguri, stressed on the setting up of a national commission for accountability of judges.
The report appealed to the Left Front government 'to take a pro-people position, save farm land and farmers.'
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya said on Thursday that he would continue to appeal to Trinamool Congress chief Mamta Banerjee to give up her indefinite fast on the Singur issue.
Road and rail traffic in Kolkata and surrounding areas was thrown out of gear on Tuesday following an hour-long blockade by the Trinamool Congress to protest the 'forcible' acquisition of agricultural land for the Tata Motors car project.
A senior activist of the opposition-led Krishi Jomi Raksha (Save Farmland) Committee also conceded that Bag had a very small plot, which had not been affected by the project.
The officials visited the state electricity board and the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority to discuss issues like power and water supplies needed for the plant, Industry and Commerce Secretary Sabyasachi Sen told PTI.
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