2. WB Government and Tata Motors
• Left Front wins the State Assembly
election for the seventh time
running in 2006.
• CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has
a vision of Industrialize the state
and create jobs for the youth.
• Ratan Tata promises the nation a
ONE LAKH CAR.
• Tata Motors accept a lucrative offer
by the WB government.
3. Farmers of Singur
• According to govt. on Singur block, 83% of the land is
highly fertile land.
• Landholdings in Singur are small with very few owners
having more than 2 bighas (0.66 acres).
• More than 11,000 land holdings.
• Of a total of 6,000 families that will be affected, about 3500
farming households work on their own fields and can be
called poor or subsistence farmers.
• Majority of non-farming households in Singur are
employed in agriculture-related occupations.
4. Timeline of the case
18 May : In a joint press conference with the then CM, in
Kolkata Ratan Tata says that Tata Motors had decided to
locate the Rs 1 Lakh small car project at Singur in Hooghly.
The project will spread over 700 acres with another 300 acres
kept aside for ancillary Production.
25 May : when the Tata company representatives and the
officials went to see the land. The people refuse to let them
reach their fields.
26 May: Angry farmers demanded assured jobs in it.
2006
5. 1 June: About 3,000 villager stages a demonstration in front
of the office of the Singur block development officer against
the government’s move to acquire farmland for the Tata
Motors project.
19-24 July: Ignoring the people’s voice the Government issued
13 notices under Section 9 (1) of the Land Acquisition Act of
1894 to the affected farmers.
Aug 28, 2006:- Land acquisition challenged in Kolkata High
Court.
25 September: Singur Land forcefully acquired. The events
showed that the Left Front Government would go to any extent
to evict the people and hand over the land to the company
officials, more than four hundred people including several
women and children were brutally assaulted and about 78
activists were arrested.
6. 1 October: Ex-chief justices of the Supreme Court judges J. S.
Verma and Rajendra Babu and retired judge M. N. Rao wrote
letters to Ratan Tata to abandon Singur.
5 November: Mamata Banerjee asks the Tatas to shift their
proposed small car project from farmland in West Bengal’s
Singur and gave a 12-day ultimatum to the state government
to announce that industries would not be set up on
agricultural land.
Dec 4, 2006:- The WB Govt claimed that 920 acres of land had
been voluntarily handed over with the owners of 650 acres
accepting the compensation.
7. 7 January: Farmers of Singur complains that the government
has stopped releasing water from tube-wells which fall inside
the fenced-off area. As a result, agriculture in almost 743
acres of land in Bajemelia, Singherveri, Khaserveri, Beraberi
and Gopalnagar, has been badly hit owing to the non-
availability of irrigation water.
2007
Mar 9: Tata Motors got possession of land. 949.5 acres of land
leased out to the company for 90 years.
8. 2 May, 2007: The High Court says the affidavit submitted by
the government on the Singur land acquisition process was
“incomplete.”
Mar 27,2007:- The state government admitted that its advocate
general made an “erroneous” submission to the Kolkata High
Court on the compensation for farmers.
The true facts state that only 30% of the land owners of Singur
who own 287.5 acres of land had given consent in writing. It
meant that around 65% who had even collected cheques were
against the forced land acquisition.
Jun 7, 2007:- The state govt. accepts before High Court that
about 300 acres of land in Singur was yet undecided and
terms not agreed by owners.
9. Aug 22, 2008:- Ratan Tata declares that Nano project might
shift out of Singur if violence continues. Officers and
engineers harassed for hours. Work in progress under police
protection.
28 May: Mamata Banerjee said that she had no objection to
the Tata Motors project at Singur if the government returned
the 400 acres of land to those farmers who did not accept
compensation.
2008
October 3: Tatas declared their decision to move the Nano
Project out of West Bengal.
