labels: industry - general, economy - general
No land for industrialisation in Nandigram, says Left Front news
17 March 2007

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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No land for industrialisation in Nandigram, says Left Front