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Karat for nation-wide scientific land-use policy

Special Correspondent

— Photo: SUSHANTA PATRONOBISH

Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu is flanked by Biman Bose, West Bengal CPI (M) secretary (left), and Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan at the 40th anniversary celebrations of the party mouthpiece `Ganashakti' in Kolkata on Wednesday.

KOLKATA: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) calls for a nation-wide "scientific land-use policy" on the lines of the one being adopted in West Bengal and will continue to oppose the large-scale "loot of land in different parts of the country in the name of setting up special economic zones," party general secretary Prakash Karat said here on Wednesday.

"In the name of setting up SEZs thousands of acres are being given to big companies not for the sake of industries but for promoting real estate speculation," Mr. Karat said speaking on the occasion of the 41st foundation day of the Bengali daily Ganashakti.

"Amend law"

"The law regarding SEZ will have to be amended and the interests of the farmers will have to be protected. In cases where land required is to be acquired from the farmers they will have to be adequately compensated ... We [the CPI (M)] shall oppose giving up land to big companies cheaply."

"If people think that we shall change our policy on SEZs in view of the setting up of an industry at Singur [in West Bengal's Hooghly district] they will have to think again," he said referring to the opposition of certain political parties over the acquisition of farmland for the car project there.

Singur project

Endorsing the West Bengal Government's land acquisition for the Singur project, Mr. Karat said: "Our party demands that the compensation and rehabilitation packages being given to the affected farmers at Singur be assured to those affected at Jamnagar in Gujarat where thousands of acres of land have been given to the Reliance company in the name of setting up of an SEZ."

"Our party is a national party and what is applicable for West Bengal should be applicable in the rest of the country," Mr. Karat pointed out. "Rajnath Singh [Bharatiya Janata Party president, who has supported those opposed to the land acquisition process at Singur] should first go to Jamnagar and see what is happening there," he added.

"Sustain development"

"Development in West Bengal, achieved largely through its success in agriculture, cannot be sustained unless we move on towards greater industrialisation even if that means the least possible encroachment on farmland for setting up new industries," West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said.

"We cannot stop with our agricultural success. If we do so history will not forgive us," he asserted, underlining the need to "move towards rapid industrialisation if employment is to be generated." "How long can we hold on to our successes in agriculture and land reforms alone?"

On his Government's stand on SEZs, the Chief Minister said it had proposals to set up "four or five and not go further for now." "We believe that SEZs are not for promoting real estate but for the sake of industry — for the setting up of factories and necessary social infrastructure."

Ridiculing the Opposition parties for opposing the Singur project "for the sake of opposing," Mr. Bhattacharjee said it was the moral responsibility of his Government to ensure either direct or indirect employment to those whose land had been acquired for the project.

"Struggle for development"

West Bengal was experiencing not just a fight of the working classes and the economically backward "but also a struggle for development," veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu said. He described Ganashakti as a newspaper, which not only disseminated information but "also helped in shaping and strengthening our mass organisations."

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