Govt could have averted demonstration : Basu

Kolkata, May 26 (UNI) Expressing annoyance at the agitation that Tata Motors officials faced yesterday, veteran CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu today blamed the administration for the unwanted incident that caught an 'investor friendly government' on the wrong foot.

'' What has happened is very bad. I have asked Buddha (Bhattacharjee) why no preparations were made in advance before the visit. Such incidents should never happen,'' he told reporters after attending the party's State Secretariat meeting.

The Tata Motors officials had faced a group of slogan shouting villagers while inspecting a site at Singur in Hooghly district for setting up of a plant for the ambitious Rs one lakh small car. The Rs 1,000-crore project was announced by Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata at a joint press conference with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on May 18, the day the seventh Left Front Government was sworn-in.

The Tata Motors team, which included General Manager A S Puri, was being accompanied by officials of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) and the district administration. They left the place with security personnel holding the agitating villagers at a distance.

Though Industry Minister Nirupam Sen sought to make light of the incident light, describing it as a 'spontaneous and natural' expression of the people, the Government immediately directed the district officials to hold meetings with the people's representatives in the area to allay the fears of villagers, apprehensive of their agricultural land being acquired.

However, Mr Basu sought to point out that a coordination between the Government and the party could have had the local people properly briefed about the purpose and consequences of the proposed project ahead of the visit and that could have averted the unsavoury incident. He wondered how could it happen despite the presence of the CPI(M)-backed Krishak Sabha and other left organisations in the area.

'' That the team would be visiting the place was conveyed to one of the functionaries of Krishak Sabha. But I heard that he was sleeping in his room. Till nobody knows why it happened, but we ought to know,'' he said.

Yesterday, the Industry Minister had admitted that the villagers, without having knowledge of the land acquisition policy and compensation package, might have given vent to their 'grouse and anxiety' over the possibility of acquisition of farm land. He said the entire thing would be explained and clarified to the villagers.

Meanwhile, CPI(M) State Committee Secretary Biman Basu denied that the incident would send any wrong signal to prospective investors in the state. '' There is no question of a wrong signal going outside. Investors are coming here not out of love for West Bengal but because they will make profits,'' he said.

Mr Basu observed that the government's stability, law and order situation, purchasing power of the rural people and the geographical location of West Bengal were the reasons for investors making the state a destination in recent times.

However, admitting that the state had been suffering from an 'image problem', Industry Secretary Sabyasachi had said yesterday that the ambitious Tata project was crucial for West Bengal to win the confidence of those still having any mental block about the state.

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