Click to play videoKolkata: In the past 48 hours, the ball has been tossed back and forth between Mamata Banerjee's Railway Ministry and her arch-rival Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's Bengal government. The Railway Ministry has promptly replied to the West Bengal government's query on how it intends to use the Nano plot for setting up a rail coach factory.
The proposal for a Railway Coach Factory in the abandoned Tata Motors plant in Singur is now back with Bhattacharjee's government after the Railway Board lost no time to respond to the state's letter asking for a proposal on how it intends to utilise the 997-acre plot.
West Bengal's Chief Secretary, Ashok Mohan Chakraborty says, "It's not a firm proposal. But I quite see the point that for submitting a firm proposal they might require more information and data."
The government is clearly buying time, weighing the pros and cons of this deal.
To start with the land doesn't quite belong to the government since Tata Motors still holds the lease rights for about 645 acres of the plot. Company Chairman Ratan Tata has conveyed that he is ready to forego the right only after he is adequately compensated for the investment he has made.
The state government, on the other hand, knows that it won't be easy for Mamata Banerjee to get past legal hurdles and return 400 acres to unwilling farmers as promised.
Trinamool Congress Leader, Partha Chatterjee says, "Our announcement is clear. If Railways wants this project, then they should return 400 acres to the unwilling farmers and build the factory 600 acres. We have many times that we welcome the proposal."
The allegation that the Railways have agreed to accept only the so-called undisputed portion of the Singur plot has added to the confusion over the feasibility of this project. But it's the political mileage ahead of the state Assembly polls that both camps seem to be eyeing from this war of nerves.
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