Bhattacharjee: All happy

Calcutta, Sept 27: The CPM and its peasant wing in South 24-Parganas are happy with Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s assurance that the farmlands of Bhangar would be spared when plots for the Salim Group are finalised, Abdur Rezzak Molla said today.

“Many were harbouring apprehensions since the government announced its plan to acquire land for the Salim projects in the two 24-Parganas. His assurance, at yesterday’s public meeting, allayed the farmers’ fears,” the land and land reforms minister said.

Apparently, both the CPM’s South 24-Parganas unit and the leaders of the Paschim Bangiya Pradeshik Krishak Sabha, the party’s peasant wing, were uncomfortable figuring out the likely impact of the acquisition of land before next year’s Assembly elections.

“Some people wanted Jyoti Basu to hold the meeting and placate the farmers, but I am glad the assurance came from the chief minister himself as he was the one who initiated the process,” Molla said.

Before the chief minister, commerce and industries minister Nirupam Sen and Molla himself took turns at the rally to reassure the local leadership and the farmers that fertile tracts would not be taken over for industrialisation.

The chief minister promised a house for each displaced family and a job for a member.

Molla was the first to speak out against his own party on the issue of using prime agricultural land for industrial projects. His criticism triggered a debate within the CPM and among the Left Front allies, forcing the chief minister to clarify that fertile and multi-crop lands would not be handed over to investors.

Molla today said he was happy that Canning and Bhangar, which fall in his Assembly constituency, have been excluded from the project and that his voters would be spared displacement. “However, I am even happier that this important issue was raised and that my dissent was finally heard. The mad scramble to grab land will now stop,” he added.

To facilitate easier transfer of land, Molla’s department is working out a scheme as part of which compensation will be offered to farmers selling their plots. The minister claimed that farmers would get about 60 per cent more than the valuation of the land.

“This will make it easy for them to let go of the land,” the minister added.

Sen trip China

The commerce and industries minister will visit China in late October or early November to scout for foreign investment in automobile, petrochemicals and leather. Accompanied by officials, Sen is likely to visit Shanghai and Beijing.