Double tragedy in Singur : Farmers lost land to Tata car factory, now they have lost jobs to Covid

#Singur Fourteen years ago, around 14000 farmers in Singur gave up their land to Tata Motor’s small car factory. As many as 11000 gave it willingly and took compensation, while over 2000 farmers and the sharecroppers started a fierce land acquisition movement led by Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee. Since then, the farmers have fought a bitter political as well as legal battle. In 2016, the Supreme Court ordered that the farmers be given their land back, but by now it had been dumped with cement and iron rods, much of it leaching into the soil and turning it infertile. So a large number of farmers migrated to cities to work as laborers. Then came the Covid pandemic and with it the lockdown, turning their meagre salaries into nothing. Several of Singur’s farmers have lost everything. They dont have the money to cultivate and wean crops out of their infertile land. So they are reduced to digging ponds, cleaning bushes and removing iron junk from the Tata project area under the government’s MGNREGA 100-day work scheme. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Connect with ThePrint » Subscribe to ThePrint : » Like us on Facebook: » Tweet us on Twitter: » Follow us on Instagram: » Find us on LinkedIn : » Subscribe to ThePrint on Telegram: