Farmers in Singur gherao officials

KOLKATA: A team comprising a senior Tata Motors executive and officials of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) and West Bengal Consultancy (WBCL) were gheraoed on Monday in Singur by Trinamool Congress members.

The team was, however, rescued by the police who helped them reach the local WBIDC office at Singur. Police circles said the team had gone to the Gopalpur gram panchayat area to finalise a trip to Jamshedpur by local panchayat members.

When the team was returning after talks with local panchayat officials, it was gheraoed at Sanapara near Durgapur Expressway by members of the Krishijami Bachao Samity (Save farmland Committee) led by Becharam Manna and Anuradha Talwar.

The team included Mr SB Suryabanshi, senior manager (HRD) at Tata Motors, Mr S Banerjee of the WBCL and Apurba Banerjee of the WBIDC. Members of the farmland save committee used abusive language and tried to assault the officials.

It is understood that Tata Motors had proposed to take some panchayat members from Gopalnagar in Singur to Jamshedpur to give them an idea how the Tatas had developed Jamshedpur. The team had gone to Singur during the day to finalise the trip by the panchayat members.