Mamata makes fresh demand for 356 in Bengal

Kolkata, Mar 13 (UNI) Making a fresh demand for dismissal of the West Bengal Government for grabbing the land of the minority people, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee today called for a national agricultural policy and amendment to the century old land acquisition act to safeguard the interest of farmers.

'' The UPA Government at the Centre must intervene into the forcible acquisition of agricultural land in the state. It should take recourse to the provision of Article 356 to save the people of the minority community, whose lands are being taken, and the village women, who are being subjected to torture by the Left Government,'' she told reporters today.

Amid reports of fresh trouble in Nandigram, Ms Banerjee told a hurriedly convened press conference that she would meet President A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh next week to take up the issue.

'' I ended my hunger strike at the President's and the Prime Minister's request. Both of them said the issue of farmers' interest would be addressed. I shall now seek their intervention. I will also urge them to visit West Bengal,'' she said.

The Trinamool leader asserted that the Centre should formulate a ''comprehensive'' agricultural policy for proper use of agricultural land. ''If necessary, the 1894 Act for Acquisition of Land should also be amended to provide adequate safeguard to farmers stipulating which, land can be taken over and what should be the amount,'' she said.

Ms Banerjee lauded the role of the Prime Minister in taking steps to redress the plight of farmers in Maharashtra.

Calling Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee a ''criminal'', the Trinamool supremo alleged that he was leading the drive for indiscriminate land acquisition to serve the interest of big industrialists. '' The way things are being done would cause environmental imbalance and spell a danger to the state,'' she said.

She alleged that though her party was continuing a peaceful movement against the acquisition of agricultural land, the state Government was not paying any heed to it.

Ms Banerjee, who had accused Tata of being a close ally of the CPI(M), challenged the Chief Minister yesterday to hold a referendum on land acquisition in the state.

UNI