KOLKATA: The demonstration by villagers of Singur in West Bengal's Hooghly district on Thursday, when officials of Tata Motors had gone to inspect a site for the company's proposed car-manufacturing plant, would not send any wrong signal to prospective investors, Biman Bose, Secretary of the State Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said here on Friday.

Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu expressed displeasure over the incident and said "it should never have happened."

The villagers were protesting against the possible acquisition of their land for the the Rs. 1,000-crore project.

Owners of land which would be acquired for the project would be adequately compensated, Mr. Bose said. "There is need for land for the setting up of new industries," he added.

He said State Government officials would visit the proposed site and discuss the issue with the local farmers.

"West Bengal had become an investor-friendly State," he said. The political stability was drawing investors. The purchasing power of people in the rural areas was increasing and barren land was increasingly being converted into cultivable land, he said.

Earlier at a meeting of the CPI(M)'s State Secretariat it was decided that two portfolios being held by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee would be re-allocated.

The planning and development portfolio would be given to the State's Industries and Commerce Minister, Nirupam Sen.

The Environment Minister, Mohanti Chatterjee, would be given additional charge of the food processing and horticulture department.

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