Clearly evading any Central government intervention in the much agitated Singur case that has been on rage since Tata Motors’ 1000-acre land acquisition to set up a plant for manufacturing the ultra cheap ‘Nano’ car in Singur, the Union External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said on Sunday that the Centre has no particular role on the issue as the case is very deep rooted.
This statement of Mukherjee came in response of Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath’s statement who had earlier said that all politicians should come together to solve the Singur stalemate while Centre could also play a role.
Contradicting Kamal Nath’s statement, Mukherjee said, “It is a deep-rooted problem. Who will invest in which state is a matter between the State Government and the investors. Since it is a matter concerning the state, it is not possible for the Centre to take any initiative on this issue.”
On the question of Nano’s fate, Pranab said that Centre was always in the favour of new technology but it (Centre) also wanted to save the interest of ‘unwilling’ farmers and suggested state government to provide alternate lands to them. “We want industrialisation. At the same time we have to protect the interests of the farmers. We have to raise food production. We have to strike a balance,” said Mukherjee.
Trinamool Congress leader Mamta Banerjee, who is leading the agitation of Singur farmers by carrying out ‘dharna’ and road blockade since August 24, has reportedly soften her stand on the issue and ready to talk with Tata officials and state government but on the assurance of not-hurting the fate of distressed farmers.
Mamta has informed the state Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi to restart the talk but not ready to scrap dharna. She argued that negotiation and agitation would go together.
Meanwhile, as per reports, on Monday though the site of TATA Motors opened after eight days of shutdown, there was no work as protestors are in no mood to call off their strike.
Earlier, the Chairperson of Tata sons and Company, Ratan Tata said that if agitation continues like this, Tata would not hesitate to scrap the Nano project from West Bengal and shift to any other place.
If Tata scraps the Nano project from Singur, as many as 6,000 workers would be badly affected and the company itself would have to bear a minimum Rs. 500-crore loss from it, as per sources.
The State Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya who is not in favour of agitation and wants to continue the Singur project has said that State cannot rely only on agriculture for its development. “Growth in agriculture along with enhanced production alone cannot meet our requirement. We need to give stress on development of industry to create maximum possible employment opportunities benefiting even members of the educated farmers’ families as well,” he said.
The State Congress President Priyaranjan Dasmunshi is also in favour of nano project and underlines the need for the continuation of the project as it is giving bread and butter to thousands of local peoples, moreover, takes the development process in the State ahead thereby opening new employment opportunities.
Mamta and agitated farmers are asking their 400-acres of land back to them as they have alleged that Tata has acquired those portions of land against their ‘will’. She has also rejected any mediation from the part of Gopal Krishna Gandhi who had on Sunday sent her a letter concerning a peaceful dialogue to sort out the issue.
In the mean time, Left Front in West Bengal is also planning to call an all party meeting on Tuesday to draw the issues of Singur crisis and push for an amicable solutions.
|
|
Read More: Krishna
Comments:
