West Bengal CM: Government committed to welfare of Singur farmers

KOLKATA/SINGUR: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has iterated her government’s commitment towards the welfare of Singur farmers who helped her come to power in 2011. She also wrote about her government’s resolve to promote industry in Bengal.
“Today marks the third anniversary of the historic day when our Govt of #Bangla handed over to farmers the parchas of land forcibly acquired in Singur,” Banerjee posted on her Twitter handle on Saturday morning to mark the third anniversary of the return of Singur land acquired for setting up the Nano factory following the Supreme Court order in 2016.
The chief minister, on this day, had handed over land documents to 9,117 farmers and cheques to 806 unwilling farmers. Banerjee had been fighting against forcible land acquisition by the Left Front government for the Nano factory since 2006. “We reiterate our commitment to the welfare of farmers, alongside promoting industry,” the CM wrote.
However, there was no activity on the ground by Trinamool in Singur on Saturday when murmurs of discontent are on the rise in the area. In all these three years, Singur farmers have been able to bring 350 acres out of the total 997.11 acres of land under farming. “We will hold a meeting at the Singur block development office on Monday to find ways to bring the total land under boro cultivation,” said agriculture adviser to CM Pradip Majumdar.
Promises apart, a sizeable section of Singur farmers has given up on farming and is looking up to industry.
TMC leaders Becharam Manna and Rabindranath Bhattacharya couldn’t mobilise even the unwilling farmers who continue to enjoy the monthly government dole of Rs 2,000 and 16 kg rice on September 11, a day before the SFI-DYFI rally from Singur on September 12. The purpose was to convince farmers that there is no hope of industry at the moment after the downturn in the automobile sector. But there were few takers for the Trinamool argument.