Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee has given the Left Front government in West Bengal a 7-day ultimatum to implement the 7 September  agreement of giving 400 acres back to the farmers in Singur even as cadres of the ruling communist party fanned out for door-to-door campaigns to convince farmers of the merits of the Tata Project.

CPI-M cadres have spread out in Beraberi, Gopalnagar and Singherbheri villages among others to impress upon unwilling farmers of the benefits of the fresh rehabilitation package announced by the state government.

Activists of the Trinamool Congress-backed farmers' body Krishijami Jiban Jibika Raksha Committee (KJJRC) are also active in the villages asking farmers not to pay heed to the package and instead strengthen the agitation for return of the 400 acres of land.

Mamata Banerjee, who turned down chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's appeal to withdraw the protests, plans to hold public rallies in Singur and Kolkata on September 25 and 26.

She said she will also approach prime minister Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil to demand the imposition of Section 355 in the state, even as the suspension of work at the factory entered the 20th day on Monday.

Mamata remained unmoved as chief minister Bhattacharjee said Tatas could move out of the state if the impasse continued, and set a seven-day deadline for the state government to implement the 7 September agreement on returning land ''forcibly taken'' from farmers.

''If they do not operationalise the agreement, we will be forced to resume our agitation, which we have only suspended. They must do it in seven days,'' she said.

The KJJRC will meet the governor on Tuesday, and also go to New Delhi to call on President Pratibha Patil and prime minister Manmohan Singh and on Friday, it will lay a siege at the block development office at Singur, Mamata announced.

The state government had advertised a rehabilitation package on 14 September offering 70 acres from within the project area and increased monetary compensation for the project-affected.

The government also raised the additional cash compensation of 50 per cent by an extra 10 per cent if the farmers, who had not accepted the compensation cheques for their land till now, claimed the land price by Monday.
 
Tata Motors, which began constructing a plant to manufacture the Rs100,000 ($2,500) 'Nano', the world's cheapest car, at Singur two years ago, has invested Rs1,500 crore in the project so far.

Tata Motors, which was forced to suspend work on 2 September after the agitators laid siege on the factory from 24 August,  is now looking for alternative sites for the project, including states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttarkhand.