The West Bengal government today said that it would have to take steps to implement the Calcutta High Court yesterday directing the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to ensure free movement of traffic along the Durgapur Expressway, after Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee refused to co-operate with NHAI officials visiting Singur today.
State commerce and industry minister, Nirupam Sen said that Banerjee refused to clear the National Highway, which was blocked by the people at the dharna and the state government would be compelled to implement the order or it might be pulled up by the Court. He however did not specify what steps could be taken.
Justice Nadera Patherya had asked the NHAI to take the help of the state government to make the highway free from obstructions.
A senior official of NHAI today visited the Singur dharna site where TMC and its allies launched an indefinite protest last Sunday. He is reportedly accompanied by the district magistrate and superintendent of police of the Hooghly district and could have a dialogue with Mamata Banerjee.
The state government said that the HC order directed NHAI to take action and it could ask for assistance from either the state or central forces. Banerjee negated allegations of obstructing the Expressway illegally. TMC has, however, constructed a temporary shade overnight to shield its supporters from the vagaries of nature.
The 65 kilometer long expressway, which is a part of the National Highway-2, was facing acute traffic congestion since the last six days on account of the TMC-led dharna at Singur demanding return of 400 acres acquired for the Tata Motors Nano project from 'unwilling' farmers.
Besides affecting the small car plant site, where work has been stalled by the company indefinitely citing security reasons, other major plants in the region have also faced disturbances.
C K Birla-promoted Hindustan Motors(HM) had problems with raw material supply from North India that reached their factory at Uttarpara through NH-2.
“Our vendors from the north are now sending components via the rail and the air route. We are also diverting the trucks en route our plant via alternate roads other than the NH-2. Goods are thereby taking more time to reach the plant”, said Moloy Chowdhury, executive vice-president, HM. The company, however, maintained that its production was not affected and it had no plans of shutting down the plant.
Meanwhile, Tata Motors issued a statement saying, “There has been no improvement in the ground situation so far. Hence, the conditions are still not conducive for resuming work today. We continue to assess the situation closely.”
