Medha's clarion call to farmers not to give land for SEZ

Nandigram/Kolkata, Jan 12 (UNI) Seeking to boost the morale of the Nandigram villagers, social activist Medha Patkar today called upon them not to give land for the proposed SEZ and continue the resistance without resorting to violence.

''The people of Nandigram have shown the way to the country. But violence is not necessary for resistance...do not give your land at any cost, '' she told a rally at Hazrakata village.

Flaying the Left Front Government for ''forcing'' its way to acquire land, the Narmada Bachao Andolon alleged that the policy of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had led to a war-like situation in the area. '' Buddhadeb aab yuddhadeb bon giya, '' she said in a sarcastic vein.

Ms Patkar reached the Nandigram area in the afternoon from Kolkata with fellow activists two days after police arrested her aborting a move to visit Singur in Hooghly district where the Tata Motors proposed to set up a small car factory.

While going round the strife-torn villages that witnessed bloody violence over the past 10 days, she separately met women asking them to take guard against any ''alluring offer'' of the Government in a bid to take over land. '' They will be trying to lure somebody by offering a job and giving money to the other. It is your duty to see that the menfolk does not succumb, '' she said.

Pradesh Congress Committee working president Pradip Bhattacharjee also visited the area during the day and called for restoring peace.

Though no major incident has been reported for the past three days, disbelief still prevailed among the people in the area to slow down the peace process as the work for repairing the damaged roads and bridges were yet to be taken up.

In Kolkata, Home Secretary described the situation in Nandigram as ''almost normal''. He said policemen posted on the fringes of the area were still in camps and they could arrest some people only after the situation cooled down.

The state government today released a list of 17,018 villagers of Singur who had willingly given their land to the government for the Tata Motors' small car unit.

The list was released a week after the government published a status report on Singur, stating how much land had been acquired in the area and what compensation given.

The government's move came in the wake of persistent allegations of the opposition that majority of plot holders in Singur had not given consent and the government took away their land by force.

The CPI(M) State Secretariat at its meeting discussed in threadbare the Nandigram situation and chalked out campaign programmes to bring back the confidence of the local people in the party and retrieve the lost ground.

The meeting was attended by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and veteran leader Jyoti Basu, among others.

Deliberating on a report submitted by state Secretariat member Dipak Dasgupta, the party made an intorspection into what led a section of party supporters in Nandigram turn hostile over the issue of land acquisition.

Maintaining that the Opposition parties had instigated violence, Mr Dasgupta told reporters that a section of the common people had been ''misled''.

He said besides holding various meetings as part of its campaign programme, the party would distribute booklets stating its stand and the facts related to land acquisition in Nandigram.

Meanwhile, deciding to resume its movement against land acquisition, the Trinamool Congress announced a set of programmes, including march to Singur and Nandigram.

Leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee told reporters after an extended meeting of the Working Committee that the party's labour wing would put up road blockades for one hour all over the state on January 15, while a march to Singur would be organised the next day.

Party leaders and supporters would also move to Nandigram on January 20 and visit Bhangar, the proposed site in South Twentyfour Parganas district for another SEZ of the Indonesian Salim group on January 27.

In a show of solidarity with the farmers of Nandigram, a procession of artistes and intellectuals paraded a tree km stretch of the city from College Square to Rani Rasmoni Avenue holding placards.

Film director Aparna Sen, theatre personality Saoli Mitra, folk singer Pratul Mukhopadhyay and various other notes persons took part in it.

UNI