'Don't differentiate between willing and unwilling farmers'

Kolkata -  Urging the Mamata Banerjee regime to stop creating a rift between the peasants of Singur, the opposition Left Front Saturday urged the state government to provide all cultivators  the same monthly allowances that the 'unwilling' farmers have been entitled to.

"The state government should stop creating rift between the farmers of Singur as willing and unwilling. The state government had announced Rs.2,000 as monthly allowance to those farmers  who had refused to give land for the Tata car plant. We want all farmers including those who have given their land to be entitled to this allowance," said Left Front chairman Biman Bose.

The state government Wednesday doubled to Rs.2,000 the monthly allowance of Singur's farmers from whom land was alleged to have been forcibly taken against will by the erswtwhile Left  Front rulers for setting up the automobile giants' nano car plant.

The state government's decision came after the Calcutta High Court struck down the government's Singur Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011. The unwilling farmers are already being  given two kg of rice at Rs.2 per kg.

"The farmers who have given their land have also suffered because of the cancellation of the project. So they are having a tough time. The government needs to look after them too. They cannot differentiate," said Bose.

Within a month of coming to power, the new government passed the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011, to return the acquired land to the unwilling farmers. But it

received a jolt last week after a division bench of the Calcutta High Court declared the law "unconstitutional and void".