INDIAN lawmakers yesterday agreed a draft law to restore land to farmers who were forced to sell up to make way for a factory to build the world’s cheapest car, the Tata Nano.
The Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill 2011, passed in the West Bengal state assembly in Kolkata, provides for the return of land to those who had not already accepted compensation.
Tata Motors had poured $350m (£214.74m) into the site at Singur but pulled out after violent protests by the state opposition party and farmers who said their land was stolen.
West Bengal is currently controlled by chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress party, which was at the forefront of the protests at the site, 35 km (22 miles) west of Kolkata.
Banerjee told the legislature that the bill, which still needs to be ratified, would “undo the injustice meted out to the farmers whose land was forcefully acquired” in a deal with the state’s then-Marxist rulers.
“Land could be returned if the farmers are willing to take it back and the remaining land would be used for setting up industries,” she added.
The Singur plant became a symbol of the clashing interests of farmers and industry in India.
After withdrawing from Singur in 2008, Tata Motors set up a new plant in Gujarat.
Tata Motors said in a statement that it would study the bill and “take appropriate steps”.
The company said some 2,000 people would have been directly employed at the plant and 10,000 others would have indirectly benefited, while the surrounding area would have seen industry revitalised.
“It was an immensely painful decision for the company to pull out the project, forced by the circumstances that prevailed,” it added.
