Singur, a small town in the Hooghly district of West Bengal, hit the headlines after West Bengal's ruling Left Front government acquired 997 acres (404 hectares) of multi-crop land in the area on December 31, 2006, for Tata Motors to set up a car factory.
The process of land acquisition in Singur began with the publication of a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act 1894. Payment of compensation in accordance with the award began on September 25, 2006 and is still continuing. Questions have been raised about the Left Front's alleged forcible acquisition made under the Land Acquisition Act 1894. According to Left Front detractors, provisions of this Act have not been met.
Making political capital: Opposition parties in West Bengal cashed in on this opportunity to take on the state government. The Singur imbroglio took a serious turn when the West Bengal government sent in a police party who fired teargas shells to chase away protesting villagers on February 7. About 100 activists, including villagers and members of the Krishi Jami Raksha Committee (Save Farmland Committee), had entered the fenced-off area at the Tata Motors small car project site and uprooted 14 fencing posts.
The current situation: Tata Motors's small car is scheduled to roll out of the Singur factory by mid-2008. The car may mark a watershed event in India's automobile industry, and if all goes well, Singur could become a mini-auto city.
More than 70 vendors will be able to set up shops along with the Tatas factory. The project has brought in an initial investment of Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) and is expected to generate additional revenue of about Rs 450 crore (Rs 4.5 billion) for the state government and employment for over 7,500 people.
Image: Protests against the West Bengal government's decision to hand over fertile farmland in Singur to Tata Motors to build a plant. Photograph: Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: Singur: Activists cry foul
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