Click to play videoKolkata: Trinamool Congress workers have defied the Calcutta High Court’s order and put up 12 temporary structures along the National Highway 2 near the Nano car factory in Singur.
The court on Friday ordered the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to ensure smooth traffic on the highway and take the help of the police to clear all temporary structures.
The District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police of Hoogli on Saturday night requested Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee to clear at least one lane of the two-lane highway but she refused them. Trinamool workers have blocked the highway since August 24.
The Tata Motors factory remained shut for the second day on Saturday, raising doubts over the company being able to meet its October deadline to roll out the world's cheapest car.
"Our workers are not attending work today," Tata Motors said in a statement here, as Trinamool Congress members continued their protests for the seventh day, wanting 400 acres of land at the site, some 40 km from here, to be returned to farmers.
"There has been no improvement in the ground situation so far. Hence, the conditions are still not conducive for resuming work," a spokesperson for Tata Motors said in the statement. "We continue to assess the situation closely."
The Trinamool denies blocking the highway. “It’s open—anyone can go. This is just a conspiracy hatched by the local police and the CPI-M who are telling the people not to go. They are saying that there are scuffles in the area and road is closed,” said party general secretary Madan Mitra.
Tata group officials in Mumbai said a decision on whether or not to re-locate the project could be taken as early as next week, after chairman Ratan Tata returns from Singapore.
Saturday also saw the state government ordering a heavy deployment of police at the site after some 600 engineers and executives, including from South Korea, Japan and Singapore, of Tata Motors were not allowed to come out of the factory for more than three hours on Thursday evening. The plant is presently employing about 800 people.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said the agitation would continue till farmers get back their land, allegedly taken for the project and related works forcibly. The party says 400 acres out of 997.11 acres fell under that category.
"We have a one point agenda: that the 400 acres will have to be returned to unwilling farmers. Unless the government accepts our demand, we will continue our agitation," she said.
The blockade has led to India's top industrialists rallying behind the Tata group, and issuing a warning that the pullout of the car project would hit the country's image as an attractive investment destination.
“If the House of Tatas, known for its values and care for the society, can face such resistance, the much needed fresh wave of industrialisation in the country could suffer," said Sunil Mittal, chairperson of Bharti Enterprises.
Bajaj Auto chairperson Rahul Bajaj said Mamata Banerjee should accept the compensation offered to the farmers. “I do blame Mamata Banerjee (for the blockade). She should accept good compensation and alternate land for farmers because those 400 acres are not coming back,” he said.
Trouble at Singur began some months ago when the state government acquired nearly 1,000 acres of farmland for the car factory and ancillary units, but some farmers, collectively owning 400 acres, found the compensation inadequate.
The Singur standoff has created tremors elsewhere in Bengal. Clashes between Trinamool Congress supporters and police have been reported from Asansol as well as at Kumarhati.
(With inputs from IANS and PTI)
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