Kolkata, September 7
The two-year-old Singur crisis was resolved late tonight as a land-for-land agreement was reached at a face-to-face meeting between West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee here, capping three days of hard-nosed bargaining.
As part of the agreement, the government would return the land of all those farmers who have not been compensated, most of which are within the premises of the Tata Motors Nano car factory in Singur, Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, who brokered the talks between the two sides, told mediapersons at Raj Bhawan.
Mamata, in turn, announced the immediate withdrawal of her party’s two-year-old agitation on the issue and the fortnight-long sit-in demonstration at the factory site.
A committee would be set up to work out modalities of returning the land of the farmers who have not got the compensation within a week during which the government ordered suspension of all construction work in the nearby ancillary units of the car factory, Gandhi said reading from a prepared text of the understanding reached between the two sides.
The Governor announced the breakthrough in the impasse in the presence of the Chief Minister and the Trinamool Congress chief at the end of a series of meetings including the first-ever talks between Bhattacharjee and Banerjee.
The talks, marked by twists and turns, was salvaged from the verge of collapse this evening following a last-minute demand by Mamata, after a consensus was reached earlier, that land of all farmers acquired of vendors of ancillary units of the Tata Motors Nano car plant at Singur be returned to farmers.
The sudden near-breakdown of talks was, however, resolved at the initiative of Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, who has been chairing the talks since Friday.
After the understanding was reached, Mamata Banerjee claimed “total victory” for her party and said “this has brought to an end to the two-year-old agitation and 15-day dharna over Singur”.
Reading out the text of joint statement issued by both the chief minister and the Trinamool Congress supremo, the Governor said the state government
had taken the decision to respond to demands of those farmers who have not received compensation by means of land to be provided to the maximum within the factory project area and rest in adjacent areas as early as possible.
“Towards this, a committee will be constituted to ascertain the scope and settle the modalities within a period of one week,” the governor said.
During this time, the statement said, the government would urge the vendors not to make any construction.
“Mamata Banerjee is making an announcement regarding the suspension of the agitation from Singur,” he said.
The government and those agitating on behalf of the farmers would cooperate with each other for the benefit of the industry, agriculture and ancillaries, he said.
