101 farmers collect cheques today at Singur

Kolkata, Oct 9 (UNI) Around 101 farmers collected compensatory cheques from the government today, taking the total to 2500, on a day when the Left Front opposition led by Trinamool Congress sponsored a dawn-to-dusk Bangla Bandh to protest falmland acquisition at Singur.

''The BDO office functioned normally during the day and around 101 farmers collected compensatory cheques,'' Commerce and Industry secretary Sabyasachi Sen told reporters here.

West Bengal government has disbursed 2,400 cheques to the farmers as payments for acquiring land at Singur till yesterday, Land Reforms Minister Abdul Razzaq said.

Mr Razzaq said the state government has so far acquired 997 acres of land in Singur. The government needs to give 1013 acres of land to the Tata for launching off their project.

Mr Razzaq said the project would also help in attracting industries in the state.

The state has around 1.34 crore hectares of agricultural land and a land bank is being prepared to avoid problems of industrialisation in the state, he said adding that the state government would take care of the food security aspect while formulating its policies.

The Singur land acquiring has become the cynosore of all political parties with the opposition targetting the alleged disbusrsement of farmland to the industrial giants as an anti-agrarian policy of the government and the ruling Left Front showcasing it as the symbol of industrial resurgence, while assuring that the agro-belt will not be affected.

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