Farmers in Singur loose interest in farming, regrets CM

Kolkata, July 10 (HS): Chief minister Mamata Banerjee today expressed serious concern at the steady decrease in the production of rice and paddy in the cultivable agricultural land at Singur in Hooghly district every year, in spite of granting money to the farmers for the development of cultivable land there since the Tatas have left in 2010.

Replying to queries of Cpi-m Chief Whip Sujan Chakraborty during the Question Hour of the Monsoon session of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly today about the present condition of the cultivable agricultural land at Singur, which witnessed large scale violence and a farmers movement against the forcible capture of agricultural land by the then Left Front government in 2006 for the TATA’s Nano car plant, the Chief minister, who once led that movement as the Opposition leader, regretted that since coming to power in 2011 though she had returned the entire 998 acres of land of the TATAs to the respective farmers and spent considerable government fund to convert the industrial land once again to cultivable agricultural land,framing began in only in a portion of the entire area.

Despite granting Rs 10,000 to each of the farmers,to start farming,it was found that majority of farmers did not return to farming any more. As a result only about 260 acres out of the total 998 acres were ultimately cultivated,the Chief minister informed the house and regretted that since then the total area of agricultural farming was reduced further,bringing down the total quantity of production as well.

But when Chakraborty in his supplementary question wanted to know the reason behind it and why the farmers had declined the government offer for farming and looked for other businesses,the Chief minister again informed that she ‘cannot force anyone to go for agricultural farming these days’ and added that a large section of farmers at Singur had ‘already sold their land’ to prospective buyers and left the area for reasons best known to them.

Later quoting from government figures she further informed the house that soon after the entire 998 acres land returned to their respective owners following the directives of the Supreme Court, as much as 681 acres were cultivated till 2016-17.

But since then more and more land were sold out and last year only about 260 acres were cultivated drastically bringing down the size of total production of rice and paddy, the Chief minister said and regretted the ‘sudden change of mind’ of farmers in the area who had once known for their zeal and their land for the production of one of the best qualities of rice and paddy in the state.