Buddhadeb for consensus on Singur

Special Correspondent
The Hindu, 27 December

``I cannot roll back and tell Ratan Tata that I cannot give land at Singur"

-"Fertile land in the area avoided"
- Seeks a clear policy on SEZs

KOLKATA : West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday said he wanted consensus on the Singur issue, which, he felt, had sent out wrong signals about the State.

Addressing the 152nd annual general meeting of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he said: "I must go ahead or we will not be able to raise our heads again. I cannot roll back and tell Ratan Tata that I cannot give land at Singur."

He said, "How can a government be run with an irresponsible Opposition? We had held discussions with them before the project started. I explained everything and now an agitation has been started."
The land given to the Tata Motors at Singur was odd-shaped, as fertile land was avoided, he said.

Recalling how he persuaded the Tatas to set up the car project in the State (when Uttaranchal was almost finalised), Mr. Bhattacharjee said he was willing to discuss all issues relating to Singur. He had repeatedly told Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee that he was prepared to hold talks. But nothing happened even after the former Prime Minister, V.P. Singh's intervention.

Earlier, Mr. Bhattacharjee said he held talks on the iron ore issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the latter's visit to the State on Sunday.

He urged Dr. Singh to give a serious thought to stopping iron ore exports. "I cannot always quarrel with my neighbours — Orissa and Jharkhand — on the iron ore issue," he said, adding that projects such as Posco in Orissa would help only South Korea.

The Centre should come out with a clear policy on Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and it must be sector-specific, he said. Mr. Bhattacharjee pointed out that there were three SEZs in the State — for gems and jewellery, information technology and the one in Falta that was an export processing zone.

FDI was welcome in infrastructure and industry, but not in the retail sector. There was need to go slow on this.