Mamata Banerjee on Friday. Picture by Amit Datta

Calcutta, Sept. 19: Mamata Banerjee today said the deadlock over Singur would be broken soon.

Following pleas from ail- ing CPM patriarch Jyoti Ba- su and governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi for a resolution “for the sake of Bengal and its people”, Mamata said in the evening: “I believe the Singur problem will be resolved soon.”

In a 90-minute meeting, Mamata told Gandhi that Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had violated Trinamul Congress’s agreement with the government, reached in presence of the governor, and announced a compensation package for all farmers whose land had been acquired. “We requested him (Gandhi) to get the government to honour the September 7 agreement and roll back the package. We hope they (government) will see reason,” she said.

The government lost no time in making it clear that it did not have any intention to roll back the package, which, it claimed, was a product of the agreement.

The chief minister said: “In the presence of the gover-nor, the government and the Opposition had discussed the Singur issue, on the basis of which the package was announced…. A solution can be reached if the Opposition accepts this package.”

According to Mamata, the agreement entitles her to 300 acres inside the project and another 100 outside — figures that have been shot down by the government. She has also sought to offer her own interpretation to the phrase “land to the maximum” in the pact.

Gandhi heard the Trinamul chief, who repeatedly professed her “full faith” in his office, but did not offer any explanatory statement. He promised to find out the actual position from the government.

Mamata refused comment on Basu’s appeal to accept the package, but she used the same key words at a news conference to underscore her eagerness for a settlement. “I seriously want a solution to the Singur problem in the interest of Bengal, industrialisation, agriculture and, above all, its people…. I have requested the governor to talk to the government to find a solution.”

There was frenetic activity in Left and Trinamul circles since morning after it became clear the Tatas were pursuing an alternative site for the project. The CPM got Basu to issue the appeal and Trinamul MLA Partha Chatterjee called on the governor to tell him how CPM cadres were “forcing” farmers to accept the package.

Reports from Singur said 11 farmers who were earlier unwilling to take the compensation collected their cheques today. “About 20 to 25 of them submitted applications,” said Hooghly district magistrate Neelam Meena.

Dilip Barik, 38, whose father owned three cottahs in the project area, was one of them.

“We decided to collect our cheque after the government announced the additional benefits. I don’t want them (Trinamul) to know that I’m at the DM’s office to submit the application. A villager in our area had been ostracised for giving up his land. No one spoke to him, he was not allowed to visit the barber and his family was not allowed to collect water from the tube well. He had to surrender to the Trinamul leaders for a reprieve,” said Barik, a jute mill employee from Bajemelia.

Krishna Kolay, 36, of Gopalnagar submitted an application for a job. “We gave up our land willingly. We have heard that the new package offers a job to a member of every landloser family. I have done MA in history and want a job,” said Krishna, whose husband is an electrician at the Tata project.