Two years after the Tatas pulled out and on the third anniversary of her agitation here,Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said I will make Singur the showpiece of Bengal,sounding desperate to take land for setting up industry. Her statement was a virtual repeat of what Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had said when he initaited the process of handing over nearly 1,000 acres to the Tatas three years ago. Singur is like my eyeball and Nandigram my heartbeat, Mamata said,the deserted sheds of the Tata Motors car factory in the background. Please wait for two-three months more. Things will change,the CPM will fall. She expressed her willingness to play ball with the Left Front government. If the state government wants,the state can have an equal share in the 600 acres of land. Since the Railways does not have any land in Singur,it wants the land from the state government, she said. Let the land be given to the Railways,and industries will come up. We will give back 400 acres to the unwilling farmers and two industries will be set up on the remaining 600 acres, said Mamata,who flagged off two new trains for Singur. I have been saying this repeatedly for the past one year,but there is no response from the West Bengal government. In Dankuni too adjacent to Singur which was in the focus area of state government for industrial growth,Banerjee said that she had elaborte plans for industry. Already three railway factories are coming up at Dankuni including an electrical locomotive engine factory,a track maintenance factory and an airconditioned coach repairing factory. The dedicated freight corridor will also come up,she added. It is because of the resilience of the people Singur and Nandigram and their fight against land acquisition that amendments are coming to the Land Acquisition Act. We have been saying that land can not be acquired forcibly. The entire country have accepted this, she added. However,on the third year of the Singur movement,Banerjee did not announce when and how she would be able to return the 400 acres of land to the unwilling farmers,most of whom are spending days in utter distress and hunger. The Union minister only assured: After we come to power in the state,we will return the land to the unwilling farmers of Singur. Banerjee,meanwhile,flagged off two new trains for Singur. Earlier,She had given two local trains for Singur.
