Dasmunsi asks Bhattacharjee to come clean on Singur

Kolkata, Dec 3 (UNI) Holding West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee responsible for the standoff over the Tata Motors small car project, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi today demanded that the Left Front government clarify the alternative arrangements for the farmers at Singur.

''The Chief Minister is responsible if any wrong signal goes outside the state over the Singur issue for he is sticking to his ego. His Government should clearly spell out what is the alternative to agriculture and what is its policy on the compensation to agricultural workers and bargadars,'' he told a news conference.

Mr Dasmunsi also demanded that the Government make public the conditions with the Tatas for transferring land and urged the Chief Minister to call an all-party meeting to clarify all aspects.

He asked why the Tatas could not have been provided the land elsewhere sparing the multi-crop land of Singur.

His comments came few hours after Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee declared to go for a fast unto death from tomorrow in protest against acquisition of agricultural land and ''police atrocities on protesting farmers''.

Yesterday, eight persons, including three policemen, were injured in a clash when a crowd tried to resist the demarcation work for the acquired land at Singur. While the protestors showered stones, police retaliated by using batons and also lobbed teargas cannisters to disperse them. The incident triggered wildcat blockade on roads and railway tracks by Trinamool Congress workers and prompted social activist Medha Patekar to rush to the spot.

Ms Banerjee, while returning from a byelection campaign in North Bengal, tried to make a detour to Singur early this morning. But she was intercepted by police and sent back to Kolkata.

Condemning the Singur lathicharge, Mr Dasmunsi observed that all political parties had the right to visit the place. He said he would write to the Chief Minister tomorrow seeking his approval for the visit of few Congress leaders to Singur.

''Land cannot be acquired through confrontation. Police atrocities at Singur should be stopped and prohibitory orders lifted immediately,'' he said.

Mr Dasmunsi clarified that he was not against industrialisation, but it should not be at the cost of farm land and the interest of peasants. ''West Bengal needs industrialisation and we are not blocking it. But industry must be set up elsewhere leaving the multicrop land,'' he said.

The Union Minister condemned the rampaging acts of Trinamool MLAs in the state Assembly on November 30, but he said this was the legacy of the left parties who were in the opposition before 1977.

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