Kolkata, June 14: A bill seeking to empower the West Bengal government to return land in Singur to farmers was today passed by the Assembly amidst a walkout by members of the Opposition Left parties.
The Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill, 2011, was passed by voice vote along with some amendments brought by the government.
When the Bill was put to vote by Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay, the Left MLAs, who cited legal loopholes in the legislation, walked out of the House. Speaking on the Bill, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said it had been brought to undo the injustice meted out to the farmers whose land was forcefully acquired in 2006 for setting up Tata Motor's Nano car manufacturing unit. She said her government did not want to divide the ‘willing' and ‘unwilling' farmers, but the situation had forced them to resort to the measure. Banerjee said the land could be returned if the farmers were willing to get it back. Stating that the Left members could raise the issue of technicalities in the Bill, she charged that they could not carry out the exercise of returning the land during their tenure.
Banerjee also said she wanted to know from the Left members why they were losing patience so soon. Meanwhile, the Tatas today said they were studying the Singur Bill passed by the West Bengal Assembly.
“We are studying the Singur Bill which was passed today,” a spokesman of the Tata Group said. PTI
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