One of the gifts Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee received on his election win was a note from Ratan Tata. With Tata Motors now scouting for land in Singur for a manufacturing plant, the Bhattacharjee government’s brand new policy on land acquisition compensation and rehabilitation faces its first test.

State and company officials today ran into local protests at Singur as villagers, fearing loss of land and compensation, opposed plans for the plant.

But hours later, State Commerce and Industry Minister Nirupam Sen said: “Land acquisition in any part is bound to have repercussions. At Singur, there was initial confusion over the compensation package. It was a minor protest, the state government will sort out things.”

Brushing aside suggestions that the protests would send out “wrong signals” to investors—agricultural land has to be acquired for a slew of projects—Sen said a public meeting was being organized in the area and local MLAs and MPs would explain the state government’s new policy on land acquisition and rehabilitation to the people there.

The revised policy addresses some key concerns and offers many incentives. Even Abdur Razzak Mollah, the one man in the Bhattacharjee cabinet who has been most vocal in opposing conversion of agricultural land for industrial use, conceded: “The party and the government have agreed to the idea of industrialization on agricultural land. With the new rehabilitation package, the process of land acquisition should now get a boost.” Key clauses in the revised land use policy include:

nPayment of 100 per cent compensation, according to prevailing market rate in the area, to those losing land.

... contd.