11 Singur farmers get cheques, 40 in queue

Chinsurah, September 19: Terror loomed large in the villages of Singur as 11 unwilling farmers accepted compensation cheques on Friday. At least 40 others submitted papers, applying for compensation and formally giving land for the Tata small car factory.

The process will continue till September 22. District Magistrate Neelam Meena said the exercise will continue uninterrupted over the weekend as well.

The state Government has marked three spots for receiving applications from farmers and issuing cheques to them. These are Singur’s BDO office and Chinsurah’s SDO office and DM’s office.

Chinsurah being 40 kms away from Singur, the distance has proved an impediment, especially for the aging people.

But things are little better in Singur, where the BDO office also being the office of the Panchayat Samiti, currently controlled by the Trinamool Congress. Most farmers are wary of going there to apply for compensations, said an official of district land acquisition department, the nodal agency responsible for issuing cheques.

Besides, there is a general fear of retaliation keeping some of the farmers from putting in their application. Most are consciously avoiding media glare and the watchful eyes of Trinamool supporters.

Avoiding the BDO office which is closer home, one of the farmers, Dilip Barik, had gone to the DM’s office in Chinsurah on Friday. His father Sanatan Barik is due to receive a cheque of nearly Rs 50,000 for their land tomorrow.

He confessed that his entire family had ardently opposed the land acquisition for the Tata motors plant. “At the time, the pressure was such that we had no option but to join the resistance movement,” said Dilip Barik. “The pressure is still there, which is why I had to be careful to avoid the eyes of the party strongmen.”

The DM is also aware that Terror is keeping many farmers from putting in their applications.

“This is why we are not disclosing the names of farmers who have put in their application,” said Meena.

Becharam Manna, Mamata Banerjee’s pointsman in Singur, meanwhile, said they were not terrorising unwilling farmers. It was the CPM which was forcing farmers to put in applications at gunpoint.

“Our party has also filed an FIR in Singur police station in this regard,” he said. But police sources said it was a complaint from a political party, no individual has put forth any such complaint.

“We have forwarded it to higher authorities,” said a senior officer of Singur police station.

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