E-Paper
Process to return land begins in Singur
The West Bengal government has begun the process of returning land to farmers who did not accept compensation for the land taken for the Nano factory in 2006.
The West Bengal government has begun the process of returning land to farmers who did not accept compensation for the land taken for the Nano factory in 2006.
On Sunday, nearly 2,000 application forms were distributed among farmers -to be submitted within 30 days. Nearly 3,000 forms have been kept at the local block development office.
According to the records of the erstwhile Left Front government, of the 13,491 farmers who jointly owned the 997.11 acres acquired for the Tata plant, 2,639 had not accepted compensation.
But more than 2,639 farmers may queue up to get their land back, since the government did not update land records during the acquisition in 2006.
Although Sunday was a holiday, the notice regarding land return was pasted at the BDO office early in the morning.
The notice, signed by district magistrate Sripriya Rangarajan, read: "As per rule 3 of the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, the state government shall, by way of grant under the Government Grants Act, 1895, give equivalent quantum of land to unwilling owners who have not accepted the compensation."
"This is one of the happiest days of my life, we have been waiting for this day for over five years," said Mapia Khatun, 35, a resident of Beraberi, who submitted her form on Sunday.
"We want to resume farming as early as possible," she said.
