Kaash flowers outside the Tata Motors plant sway to the afternoon breeze on Wednesday. Picture by Amit Datta (Below) The flowers, as seen by the painter in Mamata Banerjee

Singur, Sept. 10: Farmers in the Joymollah area of Singur who had willingly given up their plots for the Tata Motors project today said they would not allow any redistribution of land among the unwilling farmers.

On a day local Trinamul Congress MLA Rabindranath Bhattacharya went to the plant site to identify land for rehabilitation, these farmers said they were opposed to the use of any part of the Tata project area for any other purpose.

Block development officer Prasenjit Chakraborty confirmed that about 120 acres had been acquired for the project in Joymollah, which now formed part of the vendor park.

Plots of about 75 Joymollah families had been marked for acquisition. Of them, about 70 sold their land to the government willingly.

Most Joymollah residents are CPM supporters and part of the syndicates that supply construction materials to the small-car project.

Sheikh Mohammad Ali, 50, who had given a bigha and six cottahs (a little less than half an acre) and received Rs 3.85 lakh as compensation, said: “We gave our land for the car factory and we want it here. We will not tolerate if this land is now given to farmers who have not taken their compensation cheques. If any such thing happens, we will launch a movement.”

Ali, part of a 10-member syndicate that supplied bricks, sand and stone chips to the plant until it was shut because of the Trinamul-led agitation demanding the return of land from the project area, said the local CPM leadership had been informed about their decision. “We are all united on the issue,” he added.

The party’s Hooghly district committee member, Dibakar Das, said: “Most landowners in Joymollah had given consent to the acquisition. Now, they have threatened to launch a movement if that land is given to someone else.”

Sheikh Shorab, 40, who along with his four brothers had given up about a third of an acre and received Rs 3.7 lakh, is also part of a syndicate now.

“We have given our land for the project and we want to see it come up. If our land, or part of it, is handed over to others, we will fight against it,” said Shorab.

Sheikh Halim, 44, asked: “Why should we allow this land to be given away to others? We will not allow it.”

Rabin Santra, 32, Sheikh Ansar, 34, and many like them echoed Halim. They were all excited about the sea change Singur could witness with the rush of job and business opportunities.

MLA Bhattacharya today found a “a lot of unused land” in the Nano plant for the rehabilitation of farmers, “including some in Joymollah”.

He might, however, have a “siege” — like the one launched by his leader Mamata Banerjee — to contend with if he tries to take Joymollah out of the Nano plant.