September 26, 2010
Mamata proposes two factories on Singur land
Railway minister Mamata Banerjee has said her department will set up not one but two new factories in the erstwhile site of the Tata Nano factory in Singur, provided the state government hands over the land to the railways. “The railways does not own land in Singur. If you give us the land, we will put up two railway units on 600 acres there and return 400 acres to unwilling farmers,” Ms Banerjee said. She was speaking at a function to flag off local train services between Singur-Howrah and Tarakeswar-Howrah. “Since railways does not have land in Singur, we are setting up three factories in Dankuni which is barely 20 km away,” the minister added. She was referring to the railways’ move to invest over `110 crore to set up a diesel loco component unit, an electric loco component facility and a track maintenance facility at Dankuni. The railways’ has also decided to establish a training institute in Dankuni. Additionally, it is set to emerge as a key point in the railways’ ambitious 2,762-km Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor project between connecting Ludhiana to Dankuni, she said. Ms Banerjee was clearly in her elements on Saturday, lambasting the ruling CPM government in West Bengal, as she addressed a large gathering in Singur, the ‘ground zero’ of her agitation against forcible acquisition of farmland. “The Centre is now considering an amendment to the existing Land Acquisition Act. The Singur agitation acted as a catalyst for this new thinking at the Centre. Following the Nandigram incident, our demand for putting a stop to SEZs has also been acted upon,” she reminded her audience.
Courtesy: The Economic Times
Image Courtesy: www.thehindu.com
