Tata plant closed for second day

The stalemate at Singur continued on Saturday, with the Tata Motors plant remaining shut for the second day running. Both the government and the protesters refusing to budge from their stated stands.

Governor Gopal Gandhi sent a letter to Mamata Banerjee, whose Trinamul Congress has been leading the agitation against the Tata Motors plant. Neither she nor the governor’s office was willing to reveal its contents.

Insiders, however, maintained that Mamata, whose dharna entered its seventh day on Saturday, was prepared to compromise provided the government agreed on principle to return some land. But the government has still given no indication that it is willing to consider returning land.

“Earlier, we were entirely against setting up of the industry here,” a senior Trinamool leader told HT.

“Now, our position is that the 400 acres taken from unwilling farmers must be returned. If the exact area belonging to this group of farmers is less than 400 acres ... we would be willing to settle for that lower figure... But the government must first agree to some kind of adjustment,” he added.

There is little likelihood of work restarting at the plant as long as the faceoff continues. “There has been no improvement on the ground,” said a Tata spokesperson.