Bengal to start Singur land return today

Land documents of 12 unwilling farmers scrutinised,plots identified

On a day the Tata Motors approached the Supreme Court seeking an interim stay on the return of land to farmers in Singur,the district administration of Hooghly was completing the formalities for giving possession of land to the first batch of unwilling farmers in Singur on Wednesday.

The land documents of at least 12 farmers were scrutinised and found to be authentic and they are likely to be handed over their land by the administration on Wednesday. The land for these 12 farmers has already been identified by government surveyors.

Becharam Manna,a Trinamool MLA and leader of the Singur anti-land acquisition movement,said,The administration today scrutinised the land documents of 12 unwilling farmers and identified their plots. The district officials have checked their documents which were submitted yesterday. Their documents were absolutely fine and the administration returned their land deeds. All of these unwilling farmers are residents of the Kolepara of Gopalnagar area in Singur.

According to the anti-land acquisition movement committee members in Singur,the 12 were called to the District Magistrates office on Tuesday for handing over of their documents. However,DM Sripriya Rangarajan denied that distribution of plots has begun,contrary to some media reports.

Meanwhile,a team of 50 officials of the district administration in five teams have been carrying out the survey work in the Tata Motors project area. At present,the district administration has mainly focused on the government list,which was presented before the Assembly during placing of the Singur Rehabilitation and Land Development Bill.

The unwilling farmers have been divided into three categories. Those with clean land deeds are included in A category and the farmers with minimum and maximum disputes on their plots have been respectively categorised as B and C.

Govt to HC: Not against Tatas

Replying to the Tata Motors petition challenging the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act,the state government on Tuesday told the Calcutta High Court said it had not done any wrong by introducing the new Act. The government said it was not against the Tatas but in favour of farmers. Tata Motors counsel Samaraditya Pal had raised the point that there was a conflict between the new Act and the Land Acquisition Act of 1894. Countering the argument,government counsel Ashoke Banerjee said the TMC had declared in its election manifesto that land would be returned to unwilling farmers and after coming to power,the party is just acting on its promise.