Singur land still with Tatas,WB govt tells Mamata

“Until the government gets back the leased land,it cannot be given to anyone as per rules,” he told reporters.

Negotiations with the Tatas is a must for any project on the land,he said.

On Banerjee’s demand that 400 of the 1,000 acre had to be returned to farmers who unwillingly parted with their land,Molla said “leave alone 400 acre,even a bit of acquired land cannot be returned.” Wondering if Banerjee was trying to score a political point,he said,“at the maximum the government can recover the money by auctioning it.”

He declined comment when asked why the state government had mooted a proposal for a joint venture power project with BHEL at Singur.

The Railway minister had proposed to set up a railway coach factory jointly with the state government or on the PPP model if the state was not willing.