Nandigram unrest because of administrative fault : Buddhadeb

Kolkata, Jan 9: Admitting that the administration was responsible for the unrest at Nandigram, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today said the Government would start a peace process for holding talks at the grassroots level on the issue of SEZ.

Assuring that there would be no hurry in taking over land, Mr Bhattacharjee said he had directed to tear off the notice, issued by the Haldia Development Authority(HDA) that identified villages for setting up of a chemical hub and a ship building and repairing project.

''HDA was wrong in issuing the notice. It led to a confusion for which we are responsible...I have asked the District Magistrate to tear it off. I will will start a political process to make up for the loss because of the situation,'' he told reporters.

Opening up for the first time since violence erupted in Nandigram in East Midnapore district, the Chief Minister said the Government would hold talks with every local panchayat before finalising a land map for the proposed project.

He, however, said the first task of the Government was to assuage the feelings of the local people and normalise the present volatile situation before finalising a land map through discussions with all quarters.

Altogether seven people were killed and many injured in group clashes in Nandigram on Sunday last as the issue of land acquisition vertically divided people leading to bloody violence.

The Chief Minister also assured that any land acquisition in the area would exclude people's habitats and places of worship. Squarely blaming HDA, a state body, Mr Bhattacharjee said the opposition forces took advantage of the notice issued on December 28 to instigate the local people. ''This sent a wrong signal and a rumour was spread. The opposition and some outsiders took advantage and incited the people to aggravate the situation,'' he said.

The rumour convinced the people more about an imminent land takeover when some Government officials reached there to hold meetings on some other issue, the Chief Minister said.

''We have to convince the people that no such notice has been issued by the Government and continue a peace process to normalise the situation. To intensify the process, I want to talk to all parties,'' Mr Bhattacharjee said.

The Nandigram issue, which came in the wake of the furore over land acquisition for the small car project at Singur, evoked a strong reaction from all opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress, Congress, SUCI, BJP and Naxalite outfits.

While Union Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi held the state Government reponsible for the situation in Nandigram, BJP President Rajnath Singh said a delegation of party MP would visit the area and submit its report for discussion at the NDA meeting on the issue.

In a veiled criticism, even former Prime Minister V P Singh, a friend of the Left parties, asked the Left Front Government not to be involved in acquiring land and leave it to the entrepreneurs to buy it directly from farmers depending on market price.

Nandigram first witnessed violence on December three when thousands of local people went on a rampage in the local panchayat office where an official meeting was going on. They clashed with police injuring 15 cops and burnt down a police vehicle.

With a large section of people getting extremely hostile to the administration as well as to the CPI(M), the area virtually remained a free-zone being cut-off from rest of the state. The agitators dug up roads and put up barricades with boulders and felled trees to prevent entry of police.

The Chief Minister, however, said the situation in Nandigram today improved as police had been able to set up three camps and work started for repairing of roads.

UNI