I don't want Tatas to pull out of Singur: Mamata

SINGUR: Scaling back the demand that the ancillary units of the Tata Motors' Nano project at Singur be shifted across the highway to the opposite side of the site, Trinamool Congress on Tuesday said these can be built on 100 acres and the main plant on 600 acres even as it hinted that its agitation is yet to be over.

Addressing a rally here, party chief Mamata Banerjee said "I don't want the Tatas to pull out of Singur, but I am not bothered either. However, the main plant can be set up on 600 acres and the ancillary on 100 acres."

She demanded that the 'gentleman's agreement' on Singur reached between the West Bengal government and her party at Raj Bhavan chaired by West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi should be honoured.

Her party, she said, was waiting for Gandhi's return from Delhi on September 19. "We will speak to the Governor on September 19 and then decide our future course of action, which may be resumption of our movement.

"The government should not forget that we did not withdraw our dharna, but only suspended it," she said. With the state government having announced a fresh rehabilitation package for landlosers at Singur, Banerjee, however, said she would not budge from her demand that 300 acres of land from within the main plant area and 100 acres from outside be immediately returned to farmers whose land was 'forcibly acquired'.

"If the government can't act, it should quit. Either you solve the problem, or leave," Banerjee thundered.