Bengal villagers protest Tata team visit

Local residents of Singur in Hugli district of West Bengal staged a protest in front of a technical team from Tata Motors when it visited the area to evaluate the suitability of for the proposed Rs 1 lakh car project.

Sources in Hooghly district administration said the team was accompanied by a officials from the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) and the district land acquisition department.

The land department was conducting an informal survey to identify around 1,000 acre of single crop land for the project, said government sources.

"There was no violence, no gherao, in other words there was no incident which deserves a comment from the company", said a source in Tata Motors.

A state government official in Writers Building claimed that the local residents were there to meet the delegation and not to stage any protest.

Villagers wanted that their land be identified correctly according to the cropping pattern and also conveyed their expectations from the project if it came up there, said government sources.

Sources in district administration, however, said that most of the 1,000 acres examined and possibly identified for the project was dual and multi crop land.

Most of the land was used to grow potato. Besides, seasonal vegetables such as cauliflower were also grown in the area, the land department source added.

"The land owners earn reasonable income from their landholding and so there is valid reason for them to be angry if the government wants to acquire the land," an official in district administration admitted.

According to the official, the area also had several cold storages along with domestic and residential houses.

"Most of the harvested potato is shipped to Kolkata from this area," added the official.

The state government had announced the roadmap for land acquisition on Tuesday for several mega projects.

These projects included the Rs 1 lakh car project of Tata group, as well as the privately funded Kulpi Port, the SEZ at Kulpi in South 24-Parganas district and the chemical hub in Haldia in East Medinipur district.

The state government had held meetings with district magistrates of six districts in Writers Buildings for devising the roadmap.

The districts covered were North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, West Medinipur, East Medinipur, Howrah and Hooghly.