After Nano, farming hopes dry up in Singur, a plan for fish ponds

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The ponds are being developed under the Accelerated Development of Minor Irrigation Scheme of the state Water Resource Investigation and Development Department (WRIDD).

The Trinamool Congress had climbed to power in 2011 on the strength of its anti-land acquisition movement in Singur, thus stalling the Tata Nano project, and in Nandigram. In a vindication of TMC leader Mamata Banerjee’s stand, the Supreme Court on August 31, 2016, ordered the return of 997.5 acres acquired for the Nano project to the farmers.

Singur has now entered the school curriculum in Bengal. However, at ground zero, time stands still, with farming taking off only in patches as vast tracts of land remain unused or unusable. The state government continues to give Rs 2,000 and 16 kg of rice each to 3,611 people in Singur identified as connected to the land, including owners, sharecroppers and farm labourers.

Singur MLA and West Bengal Labour Minister Becharam Manna said the ponds would help the farmers. “There were ponds here before land was forcibly taken for the Tata plant,” he said.

Singur Block Development Officer Parthasarathi Banerjee said they had very little role to play in the matter. “The project is being directly done by the WRIDD. Eighteen have been sanctioned for the district (Hooghly) and I believe four or five for Singur,” he said.

A senior official involved with the WRIDD project said: “After three years of helping ready the ponds, the government will hand it over to villagers’ societies, which will further maintain them.”

Three of the ponds have come up in Khaserbheri, Singherbheri and Gopalnagar areas.

Dilip Samanta said he and five others, including his brothers, have formed a society for a pond on 4 bighas of his 9 bigha land. The 63-year-old had been part of the anti-land acquisition agitation.

“After land was returned to us following the Supreme Court order, we could not return to agriculture,” he said. “There was concrete, iron and stones in the soil. Three months back, my brothers and I got a proposal through local TMC and panchayat leaders for the project… There is no harm in trying something new.”

Local TMC leader panchayat samiti member Dudhkumar Dhara said more farmers are eager to enrol for the scheme, adding that of his own 5 bighas land, only 3 bighas were cultivable now.

Across board, whether they can use their land for cultivation or not, farmers say they were never opposed to industry, but the “forcible land acquisition” for the Nano project in 2006.

Shailen Malik, 60, resting on abandoned concrete pipes inside what was a project area, is one of them. “The government should have talked to us first. I have two sons, one is a carpenter and another, a daily labourer. They would have got jobs. They are not interested in farming,” he said.