National protest day on Dec 28 against Singur land acquisition

Kozhikode, Dec 21 (UNI) The National Alliance for Peoples' Movement (NAPM), headed by noted social activist Medha Patkar, will observe December 28 as a 'national protest day' in the country against the West Bengal government's acquisition of fertile land in Singur for a Tata Motors project.

The decision to observe the agitation, organised jointly with the New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI), was taken after a visit of a delegation of trade union leaders representing various organisations, NTUI vice-president and former CITU leader V B Cherian told reporters here today.

He said the fertile and prime land of about 1,000 acres, was acquired by uprooting many peasants and their families, at a total cost of Rs 140 crore for the proposed project by the corporate house.

The delegation also came to know that the government had reached an understanding with the Tata group to hand over the land, just 35 km away from Kolkata, at Rs 20 crore only and refundable in five years, he said.

The state government had claimed that the land in question was barren and unworthy of farming, but the team found that it was very much fertile, he said, adding that no rehabilitation plan was drawn up by the government for the hapless farmers.

He said it was also found that the land owned by CPI(M) leaders were exempted from acquisition.

The delegation had visited on an invitation from Pashim Banga Khet Majoor Samity to conduct an independent study on the ongoing agitation by Singur Krishi Jami Raksha Committee against the acquisition.

Apart from Mr Cherian, the other members of the delegation included Chandan Sanyal, general secretary of National Federation of Sales Representaive Union, NTUI vice-president Bibhas Bose and All Bengal Sales Representive Union executive member Ashish Kusum.

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