Singur: Post Tata leadership change, Mamata Banerjee sends Partha Chatterjee to oversee land reclamation work on site

KOLKATA: The exit of Cyrus Mistry has left the West Bengal government uneasy. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sent confidante and minister for state parliamentary affairs Partha Chatterjee to oversee and hasten land reclamation at Singur as the district administration on Wednesday pulled down the structure erected as a factory shed. The government has accelerated handing over physical possession of land to farmers.

Though Banerjee has not had the best of relations with the Tatas, things had changed to the extent that the former chairman of Tata Sons said the group may consider more investments in Bengal on merit. But she now fears a fresh legal challenge.

A day after Mistry's unceremonious exit, Banerjee instructed her colleagues to supervise progress and try to end the process ahead of the Supreme Court's deadline. "Change in company's brass is a sudden development. But this is a matter of the business house. We are following the orders of the apex court," said Chatterjee.

"We have handed over 170 acres to farmers," said Sanjay Bansal, district magistrate, Hooghly.

A Tata Motors spokesperson refused comment on the demolition underway at Singur.

Advocate Bikash Bhattacharya, who fought the case for willing farmers and ancillary companies, said, "Ratan Tata might demand compensation for the land. The company earlier demanded compensation for returning land, though things changed later. There is scope for legal tension again. How can the cost be written off? The company has to answer its shareholders and maintain accounts."

Kalyan Banerjee, TMC MP and government counsel in the Singur case, told ET the government was following court order and not speculating at the moment.