The Tata Motors site in Singur. Picture by Ananda Das

Singur, Aug. 4: The government is beefing up security in and around the Tata Motors plant site in Singur in view of the indefinite dharna that Mamata Banerjee will launch on August 24.

In addition to the 1,000-strong police force already posted at the project, 200 policemen have been deployed after an engineer was severely beaten up by alleged activists of Save Farmland Committee on July 29.

The committee will spearhead the dharna Mamata has announced.

“We have brought two water cannons to the project site and kept 200 more policemen on stand by. We have also increased the number of watchtowers to 30 within the boundary of the project site and set up about 70 camps to keep constant vigil,” the officer-in-charge of Singur police station, Priyabrata Bakshi, said.

Asked if the administration was contemplating prohibitory orders in Singur, the subdivisional officer of Chandernagore, Shekhar Roy, said: “So far, the situation is under control. We will be able to manage it. We are keeping an eye on the situation.”

The situation became tense on July 27 when the Save Farmland Committee asked workers who had come from outside to leave the site immediately.

The next day, crude bombs exploded at Singur station and a lodge frequented by workers of the Tata Motors project.

Some workers left for home after the blasts — the committee claims 50 per cent had gone home.

One of them, Dudhkumar Haldar, 19, who worked in the paint shop of the Nano plant, left for his Sunderbans home on July 30. “We were safe inside the plant. But we have to go to the market to buy stuff to cook our meals. We are being beaten up in the bazaars,” he said.

Becharam Manna, convener of the committee, said: “Most of the labourers have left Singur for their homes. However, all officials are attending work.”

But a senior Tata Motors official said: “All work is progressing according to schedule and normally.”

The CPM has launched a campaign to counter the farmland committee’s agitation. The Citu-led Nirman Karmi Union took out a procession with workers of the Singur project demanding that they be allowed to work.

On August 10, the DYFI will hold a rally at Joymollah near the project site.

On August 13 and August 16, the CPM’s youth wing and the Citu will organise separate rallies.