While the state government works to lower the political temperature in Nandigram, an important part of the strategy is to showcase the new range of employment opportunities in Singur’s Tata car project.

In fact, a day after West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Tata chairman Ratan Tata talked about improving the “quality of life” in Singur, the first batch of students sat for an examination in Singur yesterday to enrol into a computer training programme.

The programme is being launched jointly by NIIT and the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) as part of a rehabilitation package for individuals from farmer families who have given land for the project. The package includes: training in computer hardware and software, tailoring, catering, security services, and various other openings in the services sector during construction of the project and once the plant is running.

The total number of those enrolled in various rehab programmes has swelled to 3000 from the 1900 names in December. All beneficiaries come from affected families, including land-losers, landless labour and sharecroppers.

“There is a range of activities going on in Singur,” said M V Rao, Director of Industries, who is supervising the rehab programmes. “This is part of our commitment to ensure that everyone benefits in the area.”

The key programmes running:

• Polytechnic Training: The biggest rehab package is being run in Ramakrishna Mission Shilpamandira Community centre in Belur in Howrah district. The centre offers five courses in trades like machinist, automobile repairing, welding and fabrication, house-wiring, repair of electrical gadgets and two and three-wheelers. 179 candidates have enrolled for the course with Matriculation being the minimum criteria for the first batch.

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