Villagers pull down wall at Tata Motors' Singur site

Local villagers pulled down a portion of the boundary wall of the Tata Motors' small car project here today, the police said.

A group of people, including women, pulled down a seven-foot portion of the wall of the project at Khaserberi, barely half a kilometre away from the nearest police camp at Beraberi Purbapara.

The police said they were investigating as to how the incident occurred at around 10 am despite the presence of police personnel and private security guards in the area.

Becharam Manna, convenor of the Krishijami Raksha Committee which has been opposing the acquisition of farm land for industry, told PTI: "We had issued a warning that police would not be able to keep the wall intact."

The committee is led by the opposition Trinamool Congress.

Manna claimed that police "needlessly lathi-charged the villagers and lobbed teargas shells".

Tata officials were not available for comment.

Tata Motors' proposed plant to make a Rs 1 lakh car, spread over 997 acre, has been facing opposition from farmers displaced by the project.