Kolkata, Even as the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, reiterated his appeal to all land losers in Singur to accept their compensation cheques by September 22, he said Tata Motors was �anxious� to resume work at the Nano project site.
The company had indicated that it would do so only after the situation in Singur was normal, he said.
Plea to vendors
The Chief Minister also urged vendors to resume construction work in the vendor park.
The vendors had been asked to suspend construction work for seven days, during which time the four-member committee set up by the State Government was expected to work out a solution to the vexed issue.
Clearing a point
At a press conference held at Writers� Buildings on Wednesday, Mr Bhattacharjee sought to allay doubts in the minds of a section of the people on what transpired in the meetings between him and the Trinamool Congress leader, Ms Mamata Banerjee. He said that at no point in time did the State Government agree to give back to the �unwilling farmers� 300 acres from within the project area.
Instead, the State Government had time and again tried to impress upon the Opposition the imperatives to maintain the �integrated nature� of the project.
He said the State Government had conveyed to Ms Banerjee that a �maximum� of 70 acres from within the project area could be returned. He also said that the reworked compensation package announced last week � which would also benefit those farmers who have accepted their compensation cheques � was the best that any State Government could offer.
Ready for more talks
The Chief Minister expressed his unwillingness to get into any confrontation with the Opposition on the Singur issue and said he was willing to hold further discussions in the matter with Ms Banerjee.
Asked about the significance of his appeal to land losers to accept their compensation cheques by September 22, and whether that was the deadline set by Tata Motors before the company decided on its next course of action, Mr Bhattacharjee said: �They have already lost one month.�
The company had not set any deadline with regard to taking a call on the future of the Singur project, he added.
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