Singur land will be returned, don't lose hope, says Mamata

Kolkata, Feb 3:

Chief Minister

on Saturday urged the people of

not to lose hope and reiterated her promise to them on returning their land.

Addressing a rally at Dhanekhali in Hooghly district, Banerjee said she had promised the people of Singur that they would get their land back. She said they were unable to do so for the matter was in the court but there was still hope. "Their honour [their land] will be restored to them," she said.

Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) came into prominence in the state's politics by capitalising on the agitation against land acquisition in Singur for a small car factory of the Tata Motors during the previous Left Front government. The Tatas pulled out from Singur and went to Gujarat while Banerjee cashed in on the public dissent to topple the Left Front government from power in 2011.

However, soon after her party formed the government, discontent started to surface among the villagers after the government's very first legislation, made on Singur land, faced legal obstacles. Even Singur MLA and former minister Rabindranath Bhattacharya expressed dissent against the state government for failing to find a solution. He also suggested that talks with the Tatas could have broken the logjam.

Banerjee on Saturday said the matter was being heard in the Supreme Court of India and the people would have to remain hopeful. She said that the state government had announced a monthly stipend of around Rs 3,000 to over 3,600 families at Singur.

The CM said her government had no problem with a industry being set up on 600 acres but the remaining 400 acres should be returned to the people.

OneIndia News