Ashling O’Connor in Singur
Tell us what you think of the new Times Online
Watched by stick-wielding riot police, the farmers of Singur, a village in eastern India, harvest the potatoes from their land for the final time.
They load up baskets and carry the crop around a fence that now slices through the fields to mark the boundary of a 997-acre Tata Motors plant to be built in the place of their livelihoods.
Many are happy to give up the toil in exchange for a relatively substantial sum of cash. Others, representing about 337 acres, according to affidavits taken by a local farmers union, are fighting an aggressive land acquisition policy in West Bengal where the Communist state government hopes to make India’s premier car manufacturing hub.
Resistance to industrialisation in a fertile land dubbed “the Kitchen of Calcutta” has a human face. Prosemjit Das, 30, is nursing a broken leg after a clash last week with police. He is one of more than 3,000 farmers not interested in the Government’s offer of at least 800,000 rupees (£9,375) an acre. He claims that he has been forcibly removed. “The money doesn't matter to me,” he said. “It’s my land and it has been in my family for more than 150 years.”
He is not alone in encountering police brutality. The Times interviewed three men in a Calcutta hospital with broken limbs after violence in Singur this month. One was paralysed by his injuries.
Besides the human cost, opponents of industry’s land-grab argue that it will be economically devastating for a country already struggling to feed itself.
“If this is taken, by what means are we going to live?” Jaideb Bagh, whose land supports 14 people, said. “The money we will be given will last two to three years. The land will last for generations.”
Tata, which insists that it acquired the land in an aboveboard deal with the Government, predicts the £120 million plant will create 10,000 jobs. Construction started last month and the company says that 300 farmers are already working on the site. M. B. Paralkar, Tata Motors’ senior general manager, described locals as “pretty cooperative”. He said: “We have been speaking to villagers so they understand what the project can bring. The economic impact has to be seen to be realised.”
Community leaders have had tours of Tata’s steel plant at Jamshedpur. Tata has also provided training in welding, fitting and catering to 179 women and youths in advance of the first cars - the cheapest in the world at £2,000 each - rolling off the production line in 2008.
However, it is inadequate compensation, say opponents, who believe that 50,000 farmers, labourers and suppliers are to lose their jobs and that some of the best agricultural land in Asia is being destroyed.
After addressing a 4,000 strong rally on Friday, Mamata Banerjee, the firebrand leader of West Bengal’s main opposition party, said: “If somebody says you cannot go to your property would you accept it? That is the treatment people are getting from Tata.
“We want industry to grow, but agriculture is an industry too. There needs to be a balance. Singur is a model village. It is their produce, their labour, their land. For public purpose, the Government can do anything but not for private purpose. This is about money in the name of globalisation.”
Contrary to the farmers union survey, the West Bengal government says 96 per cent of farmers have given consent and taken compensation cheques.
Overseas contacts and local information for your business
Rachel Campbell-Johnston at Tate Britain for the new Hogarth exhibition
2003
£27,999
Inside M25
2005
£26,995
The Midlands
2006
£96,995
SE England
1997
£29,995
Inside M25
£30-39,999
London
£60-70K + benefits/bonus
North Yorkshire
£
£83K + benefits
Wellingborough Homes
Northamptonshire
£35-40K
Langley Grammar School
Berkshire
A much improved character cottage
£
£595,000
Two bedroom Victorian conversion
£
£275,000
Residential development site with planning permission
£
£1,500,000
Prestigious apartment close to Regents Park
£
£1,000,000
Graythwaite Manor Hotel - now under new ownership
Winter breaks from £40
Stunning, spacious 3-bed villa on West Coast
POA
4-bed ski chalet
POA
Luxury private villa in beautiful Kalami Bay
POA
Contact our advertising teamfor advertising and sponsorship in Times Online, The Times and The Sunday Times.
This service is provided on Times Newspapers' standard Terms and Conditions. Please read our Privacy Policy. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material from Times Online, The Times or The Sunday Times, click here © Copyright Times Newspapers Ltd