The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal will table the ‘Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill, 2011’, on the first day of the Assembly session beginning tomorrow. The proposed Bill revokes the lease agreement with Tata Motors for the 997 acres at Singur, citing issues of non-performance and failure to meet project goals.
“Since the grant of lease to Tata Motors Ltd (TML), four years have passed but no small car production industry has been commissioned for regular production of small cars which has in fact been abandoned by the TML as announced by the company and reiterated in their letters…” says the draft Bill document.
The Bill proposes to return land to unwilling farmers of Singur in “equivalent quantum” as the land by virtue of this Act will stand transferred to and vest in the state government, free of any lease or allotment.
Responding to the state government move, a Tata Motors spokesperson said: “We are awaiting the Bill and will comment once we have gone through it.”
The government decided to introduce the Singur Bill after its plan to promulgate an ordinance fell through on technical grounds. Governor M K Narayanan held a meeting today with Advocate General Anindya Mitra, Law Minister Malay Ghatak and Commerce and Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee.
Earlier in the day, Chatterjee had said the Bill would be tabled in the Assembly at 1 pm tomorrow.
The mother plant of the small car project at Singur, 45 kms from Kolkata, was 85 per cent complete before the Tatas decided to withdraw the project in the face of persistent agitations by unwilling farmers demanding the return of 400 acres. Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress was at the forefront of the protests. The Trinamool came to power in Bengal, replacing the Left Front government, on their commitment to return land to the unwilling farmers.
In the subsection titled, ‘Statement of Objects and Reasons’, the Bill states: “TML have already transferred, removed the small car project and all machinery and equipment from the said land to another state…None of those industrial undertakings (vendors) have…set up any industry and the land has been lying unutilised for three years”. If Tata Motors or any other vendor does not restore the vacant position of the land then the government can use force to take necessary steps, the Bill states.
The draft Bill also states the people have not received any benefits from the commencement of the project, while the state government and the West Bengal Industrial Development Cooperation (WBIDC) have incurred expenses of Rs 137 crore and Rs 76 crore towards compensation and infrastructure costs, respectively.
Besides, outlining the factors for termination of the lease, the Bill outlines the plan of action for re-appropriation of land by the government, returning it to unwilling farmers and a compensation package for Tata Motors and its vendors.
Once the Bill is passed, the amount of premium that has so far been paid by vendors will be refunded after deduction of arrears of rent that has so far remained unpaid, after the vendors have submitted applications asking for the same. The compensation for Tata Motors however, has been left undecided.
“The amount of compensation would be adjudged and determined by the District Judge, Hooghly, on an application made by Tata Motors Limited in due compliance with the principles of natural justice and by reasoned order,” the draft Bill states.
It says that the compensation so determined, will be accompanied by a six per cent interest, payable from the date of commencement of the application to the date when the state government ends the tender. The Bill however remains silent on the issue of compensation to the unwilling farmers. It said they will get back their lands as they had chose not to receive compensation.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) today met to discuss the bill, following which former speaker Hashim Abdul Halim said the party was not opposed to the return of land, but the government was creating a divide between the willing and unwilling farmers through this Bill and everyone should get back the land.
Halim’s sentiments appeared to be similar to that of Udayan Das, who represents the interest of the 11,000 willing farmers under the aegis of the Singur Shilpa Bikash O Unnayan Committee. “We will tell the government that there should not be a divide between the willing and unwilling farmers. A government has to look after everyone. We don’t think any industry will come up here, in which case willing farmers should also get back the land,” said Das.
