A Tale Of Somen, Singur And A Resort

B Prasant

WHAT is going on in Singur?

A land of 120 kottah is suddenly bounded by fences from four sides and guarded by a secretive, tight security. It is surrounded by an eleven feet high brick wall as well.

The locals claim that a resort is on the making. A resort in the making on agricultural land lush with green paddy at Singur -- and no Mamata and her brigade to stand in stiff opposition? We saw raw materials very much present at the site and work proceeding like wild fire.

There was a pond also before in the area which the locals use to utilise for their daily necessities � the pond has been substituted by a single tubewell and the villagers asked to learn and live with it in place of the large waterbody.

Singur�the name is familiar nationally and internationally thanks to our opposition party leadership which claims that all lands in Singur was, is, and shall be for agriculture and agriculture alone�then how on earth a land plot was encroached and then purchased for construction of a resort�is not Mamata a firm self-declared enemy of all �malls, resorts, and such things,� -- the answer lies with who the present purchaser and owner of the land is�Soumendra Nath Mitra.alias Somen Mitra of the Congress party, who had recently joined hands with Mamata as an independent party leader �of conscience� (and we quote) called the Progressive Indira Congress.

Therefore, whatever Somen is doing to the land in whichever fashion he chooses to do so seems to be �ok� with Mamata. If anybody thinks the tale of Somen Mitra�s purchasing land for resort at Singur is a malicious story floated by the CPI(M), let us quote from the document. It says that the land belonged to some Reshmi Dutta and Ritesh Dutta of 9/A Gariahat Road. The new purchaser is Somen Mitra of 45 Amherst Street, Kolkata 700006.

Somen Mitra's �contact person� at Singur is Saila Ghosh. Saila dabbles in land dealings. He is also a Trinamuli local chief, a member of the Singur Panchayat Samity and he smoothly operates through a large network of land sharks, who are putting the finishing tough touches to the proposed luxurious resort of Somenbabu at Singur on agricultural land plots�

Not for nothing has Somen Mitra took the trouble of sitting down at Mamata�s feet (quite literally). Dare Mamata utter a single word on who is now encroaching on a grade one agricultural land overflowing with vegetables, rice, and flowers � especially when her �allies� have chosen to slowly but surely move away from her the moment she met Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee across the table for discussion?