West Bengal government to withdraw cases against Singur and Nandigram activists

KOLKATA: The Mamata Banerjee government which catapulted to power because of the Singur and Nandigram agitations, today decided to withdraw cases filed by the previous Left Front regime against activists there, including a present minister.

"Of the cases filed by the previous Left Front government against activists in Singur and Nandigram, the state government has decided to withdraw cases against 302 in Nandigram and 122 in Singur," Panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee told reporters here.

The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

It came a day after she hit out at the CBI for apparently giving a clean chit to the erstwhile Left Front government in the Nandigram police firing which had claimed 14 lives in 2007.

Those against whom the government has decided to withdraw cases include Trinamool Congress MLA from Singur and Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation Rabindranath Bhattacherjee.

The MLA, a retired headmaster, played a role in the anti-land acquisition movement spearheaded by Banerjee at Singur which saw the Tatas exit their Nano car project.

Mukherjee said there were a number of applications by activists seeking withdrawal of cases against them which they said were filed vindictively.