Landless, jobless farmers suffer ill-effects of Singur land row

Farmers, who gave up their lands for industry in West Bengal, are now suffering the fallout of unplanned land acquisition. As part of the drive to acquire land for the small-cars manufacturing project of Tata Motors in the state's Singur town, farmers were promised jobs in the unit. But now that the factory production is stalled and the unit itself lies incomplete, the former farmers are being refused employment with the company, in spite of the fact that they even got training for the same. Now, villagers of Singur say that the acquisition process could have been carried out in a more planned, negotiated and amicable manner if the authorities had shown a little foresight.