Singur: Behind triumph, sprawls a land of broken dreams

KOLKATA: Hundreds of Singur farmers are locked in a battle lost with a land no longer cultivable and dreams nipped in the bud
Ten years ago, Bijoy Singha, a fourth-generation farmer in Singur, sold his land to the government as the erstwhile regime was carving out 1,000 acres for Tata Motors' small-car factory . It was a pivotal moment for Singha, who fancied breaking away from farming and ensure a better life for his family.

While taking the compensation for the land, the 50-year-old farmer had chalked out his future plans. He enrolled his 18-year-old son for an automobile training course that the company was offering with the hope that it would fetch him a job at the factory . Even as opposition to land acquisition built up and became increasingly political, Singha did not lose hope. Today , when the final verdict has been sounded, his dreams lie shattered and there's no way he could put the jigsaw in place.

The Supreme Court order, asking the current regime to return the land to the farmers, has been a victory for the ruling Trinamool Congress government and also for those who were reluctant to give away their lands. But, it has been a huge setback for those who had readily sold their land with the hope for a better lifestyle.

Singha doesn't want the land back even though he gets to retain the compensation he received. “I haven't gone to the administration asking for land. What will I do with the land now? We had given up farming and hoped my son will get a decent job,“ he said. “I also started working in Tata's medical camps in Singur and thought I would get a permanent job there. But everything is finished now.“

Singha is one of the 12,000 people of Singur who believe their sufferings will only worsen. They are also sceptical about the fate of the 2,000 farmers who wanted to retain their land. “We want to see how they survive on farming only,“ Singha said, citing the condition of the land.

Tonnes of fly ash had been dumped to level the plot and a part was concretised and will now need to be removed to make it cultivable again. Since the Supreme Court order on August 31, only 120 of the 2,221 farmers have applied to the administration for return of their land.

“We have started receiving applications from farmers. Distribution of cheques will be started once the verification process is done. We are putting all possible efforts to meet the deadline given by the apex court,“ said Partha Chatterjee, the state's parliamentary affairs minister, who is supervising the land-return process with other senior ministers. According to Chatterjee, about 150 acres of land has been cleaned up. “The mapping process will start now. We will re-draw the demarcation lines with the help of settlement maps,“ he said.

The government has brought in some 2,000 workers under the rural job guarantee scheme to clean up the 997 acres of land. Workers from all departments of the government have been deployed in Singur to ensure that the land becomes cultivable again and engineers are removing the power substation set up in the project area. “We have not yet touched the concrete part in the area. Around 200 acres were left unused.

We would start mapping that area first. It will take time to remove the concrete structure, uproot the roads and the drainage system. We will call soil ex perts for advice on removing fly ash from the ground,“ said a senior official of the land department.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will hold an administrative meeting in Singur followed by a mass rally on the Durgapur Expressway near Singur on September 14.

“We will set up the stage near the expressway where Didi held the 14-day dharna during the land movement,“ said Tapan Dasgupta, agricultural marketing minister and district Trinamool chief.

Cheque distribution is likely to start after the rally, said a person familiar with the matter.