Mamata Banerjee's railway factory at Singur stumps CPM
03 Aug 2009
Railway minister Mamata Banerjee has announced a package for Singur, the biggest of which could be a railway coach manufacturing unit provided the Tata Nano factory land is handed over to the railways.
This has put the state's CPM-led Left Front government in a catch-22 situation; if it refuses the land,it would be seen as being anti-development, while allowing the project to come up will allow Banerjee to gain a huge political windfall in the state
Banerjee had successfully led a massive agitation against the Tata Nano factory, being supported by the Left Front, that culminated in the project being forced to shift out of Bengal last year.
She has also announced that the first Kisan Vision project would kick off from the site.
The twin announcements come less than a year against her agitation in August 2008 against forcible acquisition of land for the Tata Nano project and according to analysts are meant to project her pro-industry yet farmer-friendly public image.
Banerjee said she wanted 400 acres of land to be returned to the farmers and if the centre were to declare the rest of land as a national project, the railways would be willing to set up industry there.
