West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation to prepare file on Singur

KOLKATA: The West Bengal government today asked authorities to prepare a file on Singur, just days after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the 400 acre land acquired from the farmers there for the abandoned Tata Motors' project would be returned.

Commerce and Industry minister Partha Chatterjee asked the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation ( WBIDC) to prepare the file on Singur.

"The minister visited the office of WBIDC today. He has asked for preparation of a file on Singur and the chief secretary has called a meeting in the evening," Industry Secretary Dipankar Mukherjee told PTI.

Soon after assuming office on Friday Banerjee had said the government would return 400 acre from the abandoned Tata Motors' project at Singur to farmers who unwillingly parted with their land.

She had said the Tatas were welcome to set up a project on the remaining 600 acre of 1000 acre taken by the company for the Nano project, now shifted to Sanand in Gujarat.

The chief minister also said the government would make public the agreement reached between the erstwhile Left Front government and the Tatas.

Following a long-drawn political controversy which culminated in an agriculture-industry stand-off, the Tatas withdrew from the project in October 2008.

The Tatas were paying the annual rental till date for the land given on lease.