No land will be given back in Singur: Basu

Kolkata, Jun 10 (UNI) Rejecting Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee's demand, veteran CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu today said no land would be given back to the farmers of Singur but the Left Front government would offer an alternative rehabilitation package.

''Ms Banerjee had demanded during a meeting with me that the land be returned to the unwilling farmers. But our Industry Minister Nirupam Sen, who came to my house today, told me it was not possible.

If it is done it will hamper the small car project,'' Mr Basu said while addressing a function at Baguihati on the northern fringe of the city.

Mr Basu said the alternative rehabilitation package for those Singur farmers, whose land had been allegedly acquired against their wishes, would be placed at the Left Front meeting in a few days and the Opposition parties would also be apprised of it.

''This will be a package that the country has never seen. It is an excellent one,'' he said.

Calling upon the Opposition to be more responsible in moving ahead with the ongoing industrialisation process in West Bengal, Mr Basu said the Singur problem would be solved if they extended cooperation.

The Trinamool Congress chief on June 4 had held a meeting with the CPI(M) patriarch and demanded to return the land to those 'unwilling' farmers.

Ms Banerjee had alleged that 402 out of a total of 997 acres of land, acquired for the Tata Motors' small car project at Singur, had been taken against the wishes of the poor peasants.

UNI