A giant truck goes past Mamata Banerjee’s dharna manch on Monday morning. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Singur, Sept. 1: Four trucks rolled through under-siege Singur with police protection this morning and over 50 late tonight, raising hopes that more could pass tomorrow and ease the congestion on the highway blocked since last Sunday.

After the smooth passage this morning, National Highways Authority officials met Trinamul leaders here tonight to find out if the road could be cleared again but did not get any assurance.

The party told the officials “allow the trucks to proceed at your own risk” and they backed off initially. But the officials took a chance later and allowed 55 trucks to ply past Mamata Banerjee’s siege site from 11pm to 11.30pm.

A final decision on wheth-er to escort more trucks through Durgapur Expressway around 8am tomorrow will be taken depending on the ground situation but a mellower Mamata — after the governor’s letter — has made many optimistic.

As the first trucks approached the siege site around nine this morning, the barricades set up eight days ago were removed. Four trucks went slowly through the deserted flank opposite Mamata’s camp, escorted in front by two Tata Sumos of the National Highways Authority of India and followed by two police jeeps.

The decision to allow some of the stranded trucks to pass was taken at a meeting last evening attended by senior district and highways authority officials.

Mamata was informed ab-out the decision through Raj-ya Sabha MP Mukul Roy and she promised to co-operate, said a senior district police officer.

At 6am today, Trinamul su-pporters started clearing the lane. Chairs and cots lying sca-ttered on the road were remov-ed. Party workers used broomsticks to clean the road of the debris that had accumulated over the past few days.

Highways authority project director Avdesh Kumar held another meeting with the district administration this morning and decided that four trucks would be allowed to go from the Burdwan side towards Calcutta, said Hooghly district magistrate Neelam Meena.

There were no more than a dozen Trinamul supporters when the trucks were allowed to pass.

Roy and Trinamul leader Subrata Bakshi were on the road to oversee the trial run.

The Trinamul leaders soon wanted the road blocked again. “They requested us to put the barricades back, saying thousands of people will soon start assembling in front of the main dais for a meeting. So, no more trucks could be allowed,” a senior Hooghly police officer said. “We hope to clear the lane again tomorrow.”

The barricades were set up again — 3km from the main camp towards Calcutta and 10km away on the other side.

The police said six-wheeler trucks were being diverted through a service road but bigger vehicles are still stuck.

The growl of engines in fr-ont raised hope among drivers whose containers and trailers have been stranded for days but it soon turned into despair.

“The police had told us that we will also be allowed to move. But an hour later, they said it was not possible,” said Vidyanand Jha. The 42-year-old from Bihar is in the wheel of a 10-wheel giant carrying plastics goods from Guwahati to Serampore, only about 30km from Singur.

“It has been eight days. The owner had given me Rs 2,000 at the start of the journey, which I have exhausted,” he said.

Vijay Pal Singh and his assistant Sahil, who had started for Calcutta from Vadodara with electric bulbs, are selling five litres of diesel to the local dhaba every day for food. They had set out with Rs 5,000.

Dhoot plea

Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot today urged the Tatas to “settle the matter directly with the farmers”.

Bengal, he said, was “not dependent on one corporate house” and many were still willing to invest in the state.

“I will meet Ratan Tata by next week,” he added.