On 28 September 2008, Ratan Tata declared that the Nano Factory will be moved out of Singur, in Hooghly district, West Bengal. The then CPI(M)-led Left Front government used the 1894 Land Acquisition Act to conduct an eminent domain takeover of 997 acres of farmland for the factory. Many locals and activists opposed the move, leading to an anti-land acquisition movement which propelled Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress into the limelight.
It has been eight years since the Tatas left. The boundary-clad acquired land now lies unused – a preferred area for local villages to graze cattle.
Farmland in Singur is high-yielding, producing about three crops a year. Small farmers, whose land was acquired, are still waiting for the present government to act on its promise of returning their land.
Many believe that if an amicable solution could be reached, the infrastructure will not go to waste.
According to Rabindranath Bhattacharya, MLA and Trinamool leader, who was at the helm of the Singur movement, the matter is still pending in the court. He says if a third party out-of-court settlement could be arrived at, things will get sorted. But he adds that someone has to take the initiative to act as the third party between industrialists and the state.
This begs the question: couldn’t Didi have done something to utilise the built factory and redistribute the rest of the land?
The Singur factory now stands as a reminder of the huge wastage of farmland and infrastructure.
(Images: Ritam Sengupta)
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