Another Trinamool supporter who runs a syndicate, Manab Ghosh, added that it is not just suppliers like them who are getting hurt. “Linked to us are the loaders and unloaders, the brickfield workers, the sand suppliers...”

Protesting alongside was Kalipada Mal, a CPI(M) supporter who is a member of another syndicate: “My party did not tell me to come here. As you can see, I am by the side of Trinamool people. There are no red flags or green flags — our movement is apolitical.”

Earlier, two representatives of Kolkata’s IT industry, Ranjan Basu and Suma Mukherjee, went down to Singur to reason with Mamata but were reportedly sent packing. Basu and Mukherjee are part of a group of IT professionals who recently ran a signature campaign in Kolkata in support of the Nano project.

“People want Tata to stay. We want to know why the problem cannot be solved through talks,” said Mukherjee.

The syndicate members complain that ever since the start of Mamata's dharna, their business has dwindled as contract labourers find it difficult to reach the project site. The Tata Motors' announcement of suspension of work on Tuesday was the last straw.

Later in the afternoon, the agitators took out a rally against

Mamata, but the strong police contingent stopped them short of her manch.

At Joymollah, one of the villagers, Shanti Santra, demanded to know what Mamata was doing. “Our family will be ruined! We have given up our land for the project. My husband and I were attached to the plant as labourers.”

... contd.