Bengal to start counselling of Singur land owners

Kolkata, Sep 20: West Bengal government would start counselling owners of lands in Singur, mostly farmers, to help them in starting irrigation and produce the first crop by this year-end.

According to a senior minister at state Secretariat 'Nabanna', counselling of the farmers would take place on Friday to clear confusions surrounding the irrigability of the land on which the temporary structure of the Tata factory for Nano cars was built.

"Counselling will start for the farmers this Friday. This is to clear the confusion which grew over whether the land is irrigable or not. We want the farmers to start growing crops on these lands by December... Our aim is not only to restore the land but also to restore irrigation there," the minister said.

The counselling to be done by officers from the agriculture department would also include training the farmers and advising them on what to grow on their lands.

In fact, the state government would provide farmers seeds to produce two types of leafy vegetable which could be grown within a month, he said adding that around 56 small tube wells would be set up in the entire area to address the water issue.

A team of agriculture scientists from the IIT Kharagpur and Kalyani University would visit Singur to review the condition of the land and provide their suggestions, he said. Incidentally, farmers would be getting the possession of lands from tomorrow, he said adding that lands over 700 plus farmers were ready to be given possession.

PTI