Kolkata:
Under the threat of withdrawal from the Left Front
government by the RPI, CPI and the Forward Bloc, the Left
Front government in West Bengal announced this morning
that no land would be acquired for industrialisation in
Nandigram.
The
decision was taken at the Left Front meeting in Kolkata.
Yesterday the West Bengal government had announced that
all special economic zones (SEZ) in the state were being
put on hold until a "socially balanced" decision
was taken.
As
demanded by its allies, the government has also ordered
withdrawal of the police force in phases from the area,
which has been witnessing relentless agitation by protestors
against land acquisition.
For
the past several weeks, farmers have been demanding the
revocation of the Left Fron government's decision to acquire
land for developing a special economic zone, which led
to 14 people being killed in police firing and, according
to several being injured.
Leaders
of the Forward Bloc, RSP and CPI had sharply criticised
the police firing and violence in which 14 people were
killed at the Left Front meeting in the presence of chief
minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
They
had accused Bhattacharjee of turning his government into
a "CPI-M government" and unanimously demanded
immediate withdrawal of police forces from Nandigram and
cancellation of the SEZ to be set up there.
Even
former chief minister and veteran CPI-M leader Jyoti Basu,
who attended the meeting, shared the sentiments of the
junior partners by criticising the police action.
Committed
to SEZs, says Kamal Nath
In New Delhi, commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath
today told a TV channel that the UPA government remained
committed to the special economic zones, which had the
complete backing of the prime minister.
Nath
said at that he was confident that the empowered group
of ministers under foreign affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee
would go ahead with clearing the SEZ cases where there
was no land dispute. "Of course there is a fear now
where land acquisition is concerned... But where there
is no land in dispute why should we be worried,"
he said.
Nath
told the channel that land acquisition for SEZs must be
transparent and he was personally in favour of giving
farmers a stake in the development on their land besides
the market price.
He
said the new national rehabilitation policy was likely
to include a provision for making farmers stake holders
in the development. "The new land acquisition policy
is looking at all these things and which ever it happens,
whether by giving him (the farmer) a job or a stake...
He must be part and parcel of new development," he
said.
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