Villagers, police clash in WB over land acquisition
Scores of villagers in Nandigram (near Haldia) clashed with local police following rumours of a land acquisition notification by the Haldia Development Authority in favour of Indonesia’s Salim Group for two SEZs.
By Tamal Sengupta, TNN |
KOLKATA: On the heels of the Singur backlash over a proposed Tata Motors venture, the politically-sensitive issue of land acquisition for mega industrial ventures in West Bengal took a nasty turn on Wednesday.
Scores of villagers in Nandigram (near Haldia) clashed with local police following rumours of a land acquisition notification by the Haldia Development Authority in favour of Indonesia’s Salim Group for two SEZs.
West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, however, vehemently denied this, stressing that no notice was issued for acquiring land in Nandigram for an industrial project. “No agency has issued any notification in Nandigram to acquire land for any industrial project,” Mr Bhattacharjee told reporters in Kolkata.
Indonesia’s Salim Group has sought a whoppiong 10,000 acres for developing a mega chemical industrial estate, including a chemical SEZ in Nandigram, close to Haldia in a 50:50 joint venture with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC).
The Salim Group also proposes to set up a multi-product SEZ on 12,500 acres in Haldia. A new company has also been floated by the Salim Group, New Kolkata International Development Private Ltd along with two other firms, the Universal Success Group and Unitech Ltd.
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Trouble began at about 12 noon in Nandigram when some people from the nearby Garchakraberia village stopped a car following rumours that officials from the land reforms department were on their way to serve a land acquisition notice. Strangely, the Garchakraberia gram panchayet is controlled by the CPIM.Once the villagers’ gheraoed the trapped occupants in the car, a posse of policemen from Nandigram PS came to the rescue but were attacked by the villagers. Later a larger contingent of police rushed to the spot and fired several rounds of rubber bullets to disperse the mob.
Interestingly, violence at Nandigram erupted at a time when the CPIM central committee was in session in Kolkata. The central committee is scheduled to discuss the issue of land acquisition for urbanisation and industrialisation.
In fact, political observers did not expect trouble at Nandigram and Haldia over acquisition of land for industrial development as both areas are under the control of CPIM and CPI. Nandigram assembly segment is represented by Seikh Mohammad Illias of the CPI. The CPIM had never contested the seat since 1977 when the Left Front government came to power in the state.
But the CPI has been consistently opposing acquisition of multi-crop land for urbanisation and industrialisation. However, it is not known whether the CPI MLA at Nandigram, Mr Illias was present during Wednesday’s clash between the police and local villagers.
Meanwhile, a team of Trinamool Congress legislative party will rush to Nandigram on Thursday. The Congress, however, has called a 12 hour bandh at Nandigram in protest against police firing.
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