Buddha balm for farmers

Statesman News Service

HENRIA, Feb 11: Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today iterated that the state government won’t acquire a single plot of land at Nandigram without the local people’s consent and urged the Opposition not to spread unrest in the area. Mr Bhattacharjee was addressing a massive rally of party supporters at Henria after handing over 5,040 pattas to landless farmers at several blocks, including Bhagabanpur, Contai, Khejuri and Nandigram in East Midnapore. The whole exercise is being viewed as a damage-control measure to boost the confidence of party workers and spread goodwill among the rural people at the height of the anti-farm land acquisition movement. Party supporters were brought in over 200 vehicles, that choked the Hernia crossing for more than two hours. The chief minister said the people of Nandigram had been “misinformed and misled” by the Opposition. “The state government will try its best to convince the people of Nandigram about the need for setting up industries in their area and won’t give up our industrialisation plan,” he said. The chief minister cited the example of Haldia that had become a major industrial destination during the past few decades. There are investment proposals worth Rs 10,000 crore in the pipeline for Haldia, while Siliguri, Kharagpur, Malda and Kulpi are coming up as promising industrial destinations, he said. “The Left Front in West Bengal has been a pioneer in empowering common people through the Panchayat Raj system. The Opposition parties are obviously preparing for the next panchayat election and trying to make land acquisition an issue. The people in Nandigram should not stay in the dark and know that the plan of establishing a chemical hub here was drawn up by the Centre and not the state government, he added. Mr Abdul Rezzak Mollah, minister for land and land reforms, said the LF government had during its tenure distributed 1.5 million acres among 3 million people. “In terms of land ceiling West Bengal tops the list of states in the country,” he claimed. Mr Lakshman Seth, CPI-M leader, said : “The way the Opposition is reacting to the industrialisation plan of the state government is not politics, rather anti-social activity. We will make industrialisation a reality.”