Click to play videoSingur: The Supreme Court will start hearing the Tata motors petition on Wednesday but back in Singur the Mamata Banerjee government is desperate to start returning land.
Bengal government officials have earmarked plots inside the Tata Motors premises for handover to Singur farmers and have identified 12 farmers to whom 3.8 acres land would be returned.
MLA and Member of High Powered Committee for Singur Land Return Becharam Manna said, "We have given them possession for equivalent quantity and quality of land they had lost and in a short while we'll hand them over the land deeds."
The government however held back handing over land titles to the farmers on grounds that verification process of the applications isn't complete. Through the day state land survey officials took a stock of the plots that are to be returned. Ahead of the Supreme Court hearing where Tata Motors have prayed for an injunction on land distribution, their urgency to finish the job was apparent. The farmers were more than happy.
One of the farmers Jugal Chandra Koley said, "Where there's a will, there's a way."
The land measurement process that's taking place behind these gates is the Bengal government's way of saying that it doesn't care about what legal moves Tata Motors make to stop land distribution among the Singur peasants. With fresh battle lines clearly drawn between the two sides at multiple fronts, the Singur standoff now looks like a prestige fight more than anything else.
The government continued accepting applications for land return for the third consecutive day and more than a thousand farmers have already applied.
Another applicant for Land Return Santanu Ghosh said, "We are happy at the government's initiative and especially the fast pace in which things are moving here."
While the outcome of the legal battles would play a decisive role in all this, it's clear that Mamata Banerjee wants to score political brownie points before the court steps in.
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