India News | Industry and Agriculture Will Coexist : Mamata

Singur (WB), June 3 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday stressed the need for the coexistence of industry and agriculture for the development of the state.

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Banerjee, who was in the forefront of the the anti-land acquisition movement here in 2006 during the erstwhile Left Front rule in the state, said several new projects, including an agro-based industry and an infrastructure project worth Rs 3000 crore, would up in the area in the next few years.

“I have a lot of memories of Singur where we all fought together (against land acquisition for Tata Motors). When we were agitating, I had vowed that if the farmers emerged victorious, then I will build a temple of Goddess Santoshi Mata here. After we emerged victorious and the land was returned to farmers, I had told Becharam Manna (local TMC leader) to provide me with a piece of land to build a temple here,” she said while addressing a programme here.

The temple was built in 2019. “I offered my puja today,” she said.

Banerjee said “Industry and agriculture will coexist and grow together. An agro-based industry at Singur and a railway coach factory are coming up in Hoogly district. Many other industries are in the pipeline,” she said.

Anti-land acquisition movements at Singur and Nandigram in East Midnapore district are considered to have catapulted TMC, which is led by Banerjee, to power by defeating the 34-year old Left Front regime in 2011.

Singur once known for multiple crop farming, first came into the limelight after Tata Motors selected the area for its Nano car manufacturing unit 2006. The then Left Front government had acquired 997.11 acres along National Highway 2 and handed it over for setting up the plant.

Banerjee went on a 26-day hunger strike demanding the return of 347 acres that was forcibly acquired, followed by a sit-in outside the car plant. As several emissaries and meetings between the TMC and Left Front government failed to break the ice, Tata Motors decided to move out of Singur.

After a long-drawn legal battle between TMC government and the Tatas, the farmers got back their land in 2016.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)