Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also said 800 cheques would be distributed among the farmers who had not taken them earlier
Stating that her government would follow the Supreme Court order cancelling the Singur land acquisition “line by line”, the West Bengal government on Monday asserted land ‘parcha’ would be distributed among 9,117 farmers on September 14.
‘Parcha’ is a document which establishes the ownership of a farmer over a piece of land in revenue records.
The Supreme Court had on August 31 ruled that the land acquisition process in Singur was faulty and not for public purpose and had directed to return it to the farmers within 12 weeks.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the land ‘parcha’ would be distributed among 9,117 farmers of Singur on September 14.
She also said 800 cheques would be distributed among the farmers who had not taken them earlier during the erstwhile Left front government when compensation was paid for acquiring the land.
“Of the total 997 acres of land in Singur, the district administration has completed the survey and demarcation work for 620 acres, and 800 cheques are ready for distribution among land-owners,” Banerjee said.
She said, “Altogether 9,117 parchas are ready for handing over to the farmers on September 14 when ‘Singur Diwas’ would be observed.”
“We will follow the Supreme Court ruling line by line,” she said, adding the land would be turned cultivable.
Referring to the factory sheds on the land, she said, “There are some temporary structures on the land. We hope they (the Tatas) will remove them within the next 2-3 days. I told (finance minister) Amit Mitra to request them (Tatas) to remove them”.
“If they remove them it is good, otherwise we will remove them,” she said as she stressed the government was acting as per the apex court’s landmark verdict.
On whether the government was facing non-cooperation from the Tatas, she replied in the negative.
“They have taken it sportingly and we have also taken it sportingly. The Tatas are also working in Bengal. There is no problem,” she said.
The government would also send a CD to the court to apprise them of the “hard work” being done to honour the order, she said.
The chief minister said her government had promised to make the land arable once again for the benefit of farmers of Singur.
“The agriculture department will soon come up with a package for the Singur farmers to help them grow crops,” she said.
She said the administrative review meeting, scheduled for Wednesday at Singur, has been postponed to September 29.
Asked to comment on the railways fare hike, the Trinamool leader said she had been shocked to see the rates going up so many times.
“During my tenure, there was no hike and they are doing it every time. In the last two years there has been no new project or no new train, so they have saved a lot of money,” she said.
Photograph: PTI Photo