Kolkata, May 20
Singur flared up again today on the eve of the Nandigram peace talk as a fresh attempt made by the evicted farmers to get back their farm lands occupied forcibly for Tata Motors project.
According to reports reaching the city, some violent clashes took place around the Tata Motors project site in the morning when a group of people, belonging to the Krishi Bachao Committee, armed with swords, lathis, crackers and other weapons, surrounded the plant area and tried to enter it to take possession of the area. The police and the factory security staff, however, swung into action immediately and foiled their attempts.
This led to “people-police clashes” in which lathis, swords, bombs, crackers and other weapons were used freely. The police resorted to indiscriminate lathi-charge and also fired
several rounds of tear gas shells, wounding over 50 farmers. About a dozen policemen were also injured. Of the injured persons 30, including five policemen, were admitted to the district hospital and a local health centre.
Mamata Banerjee said it was an agitation by the evicted farmers to get back their farm lands at Singur. She criticised the police action on the people who had been agitating for a genuine cause. She sent Partha Chatterjee, TMC leader in the Assembly, to Singur to persuade the farmers to maintain peace.
She hoped that the Singur issue would be discussed at the meeting scheduled for May 24 for an amicable solution.
The CPM leadership, however, criticised the TMC and the Krishi Bachao Committee for today’s violent incident at Singur which, they feared, would upset the Nandigram peace talks.
The Chief Minister, Budhadeb Bhattacharjee, once again appealed to the aggrieved villagers to come to the negotiating table to discuss about the compensation package.
