Governor Gandhi to hold first meeting today.
West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi has convened a preliminary agenda-setting meeting between combating sides on the Singur issue on September 4 and a formal meeting at 10 am on September 5 in a bid to work out a solution to the problem of reconciling farmers who refused compensation for land they lost to the Tata Motors’ Nano car plant.
Yesterday, Tata Motors had said it had suspended operations at Singur and was exploring alternative locations after work had been disrupted since August 29 owing to protests near the plant.
The Left Front today said it was open to inviting the company’s management to a meeting as soon as possible, even as reports trickled in of a farmer committing suicide at Singur after Tata Motors announced the suspension of work.
Meanwhile, speaking from Singur, Trinamool Congress (TC) leader Mamata Banerjee said the Singur impasse would be resolved “in the next two days”.
Both the state government and TC, the party that has been leading the protests at the factory site 40 km from Kolkata, agreed on the central role of governor Gandhi, and indicated that they would like Gandhi to serve as the mediator between the state, TC and Tatas.
On his part, Gandhi met legal luminary Chittatosh Mukherjee, former Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, for advice on the legal aspects of the Singur impasse.
Gandhi will be banking on jurists like Mukherjee, and economists like Ashok Mitra, to advise him on the matter, sources here said.
TC leader Partha Chatterjee met Gandhi apparently to decide on a mediator to resolve the impasse.
Sources said that the Governor had sent a communication to Ratan Tata, in which he was understood to have informed him that an initiative had been taken to end the Singur deadlock, and received a positive indication in response.
The government, which had approached Gandhi on September 2 to act as an intermediary in its bid to work out a peace formula with TC’s Mamata Banerjee, may use his office to mediate, sources here said.
The governor was understood to have cited his Constitutional position as a hindrance to assume the responsibility, so the task may be passed on to a retired high court or Supreme Court judge acceptable to both sides.
The farmer who committed suicide had sold his land and accepted compensation but was hit when work at the factory stopped, alleged supporters of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI (M), the biggest of the Left Front constituents.
In response, TC supporters said this proved that the compensation was so low that even a week’s lost wages were enough to plunge families into crisis.
In a parallel development, a group of people with placards, said to be locals, blocked National Highway 2, a short distance from the protest platforms set up by Banerjee, demanding that she leave Singur so that work at the plant could proceed.
Banerjee alleged they were CPI(M) agitators in disguise and were a part of a Left plan to pressure her and her supporters ahead of the peace process initiated by the governor.
Pro-CPI(M) groups and TC sparred at different localities in Singur through the day and supporters of Banerjee travelling to her protest platform alleged they were being stopped and threatened on the highway.
