New Delhi: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Saturday told the West Bengal government to halt work on the boundary wall for the Tata small car project in Singur.
"I have made repeated appeals for the return of the forcibly acquired farmland. This is my last appeal to the government. They should stop work on the boundary wall and sit for discussion," PTI quoted Banerjee saying.
Addressing a meeting in Hooghly district after prohibitory orders were quashed by the Calcutta High Court, she said, "If the government does not respond to our appeal, they will be responsible for the consequences. We don't want violence, but it cannot be a one way affair."
"In a democracy there is no harm in admitting mistakes and the Chief Minister should announce that forcibly acquired land will be returned to pave the way for talks," she added.
However, she warned that the government might guard the boundary wall of the Tata project, but would not be able to save it. "It will crumble in a day."
She asked the farmers, who had opposed the acquisition of their land, not to give consent and accept compensation cheques.
Without naming the Tatas, she said it was a shame that in the interest of a "multi-billionaire", people at Singur did not have the freedom to assemble due to promulgation of section 144 CrPC for 75 days.
Challenging the Chief Minister's statement that 96 per cent of the people there had given consent for land acquisition, Banerjee claimed farmers had not given consent for acquisition of 400 acre of the 997 acre acquired.
"If 96 per cent had given consent, why was prohibitory orders clamped and why were the police deployed to guard the project site?" she asked and asserted that the Tatas would not be able to build their car plant at Singur.
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