Singur speed-breaker gone, way clear for Nano

GOOD TO GO: Bengal Governor Gopal Gandhi (C), CM Buddhadeb (R) and TMC chief Banerjee (extreme L).

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New Delhi: Nano, the world’s cheapest car, may soon roll out of Singur in West Bengal after a two-week long dispute over farmland ended on Sunday night.

The deadlock following the farmers' agitation against Tata Motors' small car project was resolved late on Sunday night as the state government agreed to form a committee to look into the demand and the opposition Trinamool Congress suspended its campaign against it.

Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who mediated the talks between the Left Front government and the Trinamool, told reporters after several rounds of talks and some twists that the imbroglio was resolved and a compromise formula had been worked out.

The agreement said the government "has taken the decision to respond to the demand of those farmers who have not received compensation, by means of land to be provided to the maximum within the project area and the rest in adjacent areas as early as possible".

"Towards this, a committee will be constituted to ascertain the scope and settle the modalities within a period of one week. During this time, the government will urge the vendors not to make any construction," according to the text of the pact inked by Industries Minister Nirupam Sen and Leader of Opposition Partha Chattopadhyay.

Earlier, sources told CNN-IBN a new compensation package has been worked out, according to which the government is likely to return around 200 acres of land in and around the factory to “unwilling farmers”. A committee will be set up to look into the land dispute.

Mamata Banerjee, who led the protests against the car factory, will call off her agitation in 24 hours as part of the deal with the government, sources say.

"It's a total victory", she said. She soon left for Singur to formally call off the protest at the factory site.

This is the first time the two leaders met following a bitter controversy over acquisition of agricultural land for the $25-million Nano project in Singur, about 40 km from Kolkata.

The KJJRC had been agitating on the demand that 400 acres "forcibly" acquired by the government from "unwilling farmers" for the project be returned.