Soon, with the need to supply building and construction material to the project site, opportunities opened up. The West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) approved 22 “syndicates” to take care of the supply and the syndicates roped in over 1,000 unskilled villagers. That meant money and with money came spending power and Singur’s local market morphed into a colourful bazaar.

Swapan Kumar Khan, who owns a cloth shop in the market, is happy with the way his business has shaped up. “Our market used to come to life only thrice a year, after every harvest. But now, business booms at the beginning of every month of the English calendar as payment schedules have changed overnight.”

Last year, Khan and other businessmen in the area visited an industrial zone in Sreerampur and surveyed the market there. They wanted to study the “pattern of trading and the changing choices of people”. “Till a year ago, I sold only lungis, dhotis and saris. Now, people are also asking for jeans and Bermuda shorts,” said Khan.

Of the total 174.7 sq km in Singur block, the government acquired only around a thousand acres for the Tata Motors project. The Block Development Office says that of the 50,000 households in the block, only around 3,200 households were affected directly by the project. But the changes have been far more widespread. Walk around Singur’s market and you see new bank branches and automated teller machines (ATMs)—there is one every 200 metres—everywhere. The block now has new 22 banks, with 11 in the market alone. These are in addition to the cooperative banks that were here before the Tatas came.

... contd.