Eyeball to eyeball on Nano, both Buddha, Mamata blink

Kolkata, September 7: The two-year-old crisis over Singur which had forced the Tata Motors to think in terms of shifting the Nano car project out of West Bengal seemed headed for a resolution late tonight as a land-for-land agreement, first reported by The Indian Express, was reached at the first face-to-face meeting between West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, capping three days of intense bargaining.

As part of the agreement, the state Government will return land “to the maximum within the (Nano) project area and the rest in adjacent areas as early as possible” to all those farmers who have not taken compensation, Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, who played a key role in talks between the two sides, told reporters at Raj Bhawan.

Banerjee, in turn, announced the immediate suspension of her party’s two-year-old agitation on the issue and the fortnight-long sit-in demonstration at the factory site.

Reading from a prepared text of the understanding reached between the two sides, Gandhi said: “The government has taken the decision to respond to the demands of those farmers who have not received compensation, by means of land to be provided to the maximum within the project area and the rest in adjacent areas as early as possible. Towards this, a committee will be constituted to ascertain the scope and settle the modalities within a period of one week. During this time, the government will urge the vendors not to make any constructions. Mamata Banerjee is making an announcement regarding the suspension of the agitation from Singur. The government and those who have been agitating on behalf of the farmers will cooperate with each other for the benefit of the industry, agriculture and ancillaries.”

The talks, marked by twists and turns, was salvaged from the verge of collapse this evening following a last-minute demand by Banerjee, after a consensus was reached earlier, that land of all farmers acquired of vendors of ancillary units of the Tata Motors Nano car plant at Singur be returned to farmers. The near-breakdown of talks was, however, resolved at the initiative of Gandhi.

After the meeting, Banerjee said: “It is a victory for us. You have seen how we have fought for the Singur farmers for the past two years. We are happy.”

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