Singur row: Now, Mamata under siege?

SINGUR/KOLKATA: Tata Nano workers failed to turn up at their besieged plant for a second day on Saturday even as Trinamool Congress-led protestors defied a Calcutta High Court directive to clear the highways and potentially clear the way for the world's cheapest car finally to roll off the assembly line. There were some signs of cracks in the seemingly-solid wall of protest to Tata's acquisition of nearly 1,000 acres with some local Trinamool Congress activists employed at the Nano plant as apprentices, openly blaming hardline Left-wingers for deliberately digging in for the long haul in order to force the Tatas out of Bengal. "We were with the agitation since it started. It was a spontaneous movement then," said activist Kushal Saha, a former gram panchayat pradhan of Beraberi Purbapara. "Farmers wanted a better price from the government. They fought for it. Unfortunately, outsiders have taken over. They have no idea of ground reality," he said. For the first time too, Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee's supporters started to blame her directly. NHAI fails to move Singur protesters National Highway Authority project director Avdhesh Singh on Saturday marched in with a copy of the court order but failed to intimidate protesters. After a preliminary meeting to take stock with district magistrate Neelam Meena and superintendent of police Rajiv Mishra, Singh asked to meet Mamata. But he only got as far as her colleague, lawyer Kalyan Banerjee, who said the protesters would not relent. "We are keeping the highway free. All our camps are on the roadside. The police are free to divert the traffic from Palsit in Burdwan, which they are not doing. They can try and run vehicles on the expressway if they want," Banerjee said. "Let Mamata enter the car factory and identify the land? She can't. The land she is talking about is far less than 400 acres. She is leading the protesters to nowhere," Kushal Saha, a former gram panchayat pradhan of Beraberi Purbapara. But Trinamool leaders remained defiant. Meanwhile, Singh threatened police action, but that failed as well. He said, "There has been no change in the ground situation so far. The condition is still not conducive to resuming traffic movement on Saturday. We are losing Rs 25 lakh a day as toll. I will seek the help of the state police failing which we would clear the expressway with Central forces.". In Kolkata, West Bengal home secretary Asoke Mohan Chakrabarty admitted the state administration could do little to execute HC order. "The court has asked for compliance. There is no other way," Chakrabarty said. But in a sign of increasing dismay at the bad press for Bengal's seemingly anti-business policies, software professionals in Kolkata marched to demand government to take firm steps to hold on to the Tata project.
source: TOI