Trinamool Congress chief and Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday reiterated that she was ready to set up a railway coach factory at the abandoned site of Tata Motors at Singur if the state government handed over the land to the Railways. She, however, made it clear that she wanted to set up the factory only on 600 acres and the remaining 400 aces will have to be handed over to the farmers who did not accept the price for the land that was acquired for the factory.

Mamata’s offer came after a delegation of Central Government PSU BHEL and state PSU PDCL visited the site at Singur on Thursday to explore the possibility of setting up a 1600-MW power plant.

Calling the whole exercise a “drama”, Mamata said if the state government gave her the land, her ministry would set up the factory there. “...And it can be a joint venture with the state government,” she added.

However, state Land Reforms Minister Abdur Razzak Mollah, while welcoming the proposal, said the 400 acres could not be returned. “According to law, once land is acquired it cannot be returned. I can’t understand how this land can be given back,” he said.