Singur, Aug. 24: The CPM today tried to “counter” Mamata Banerjee’s siege with more than 40 street-corner meetings in and around Singur.

“We want to convince the people that the small-car project is important for Singur. We also want to gauge the mood of the villagers who are unwilling to give up their land,” said Dibakar Das, a member of the CPM’s Hooghly district committee.

Meetings were held at Doluigachha More, Nanda Bazar, Duleypara and Bora in Singur. All the spots are 5-10km from the plant. Dankuni, Chanditala, Mogra, Dhaniakhali, Haripal and Tarakeswar were the other sites in Hooghly.

CPM workers were up at 6 this morning, putting up festoons on Delhi Road, between Dankuni and Baidyabati.

Apart from Das, MP Anil Basu, district secretariat members Balai Sabui and Benoy Dutta, district committee member Srikanta Chatterjee and zonal secretary Amar Chanda addressed the meetings.

“

We explained to the peo- ple that it was not possible to return 400 acres as they are an integral part of the Nano project. We also told the villagers that there were many who wanted to collect their cheques but could not because of threats from the Save Farmland Committee,” Sabui said.

The local CPM leaders had met last night at the Singur zonal committee office. “We discussed ways to convince the villagers who are yet to collect their cheques. We will go to their homes and speak to them,” Das said.

The CPM leader said: “We will ask them why they don’t want to give up their land. The door-to-door campaign will begin tomorrow.”