Having lost their land for the expansion of the Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO) steel plant at Burnpur in West Bengal’s Bardhaman district, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday, farmers now wait for the promised jobs at the company.
Farmland spanning about 308 acres from three villages — Purushottampur, Nakrashotta and Koilapur — was acquired for the expansion of the IISCO plant in 2006, around the same time when the peasant movement at Singur in Hooghly district was gaining momentum.
“We are not against industrialisation. We had only two demands — compensation according to the prevailing land prices and jobs at the modernised plant. Although compensation package was announced, the [then] Left Front government and IISCO could not guarantee jobs for us. We then formed the Purushottampur Nakrashotta Land Losers’ Committee in 2007 to fight for our rights,” peasant and activist Chandrashekhar Roy told The Hindu over the phone from Bardhaman district.
Nearly 230 peasants were involved in the campaign and 127 were arrested in 2007 for obstructing construction work at the plant at Purushottampur. While they were let off after about 14 days, the rest of the farmers started a fast to press for their demands. Meanwhile, a compensation package of about Rs. 12.45 lakh was offered to the peasants.
“Mamata Banerjee [then the Opposition leader] paid us a visit along with other ministers and promised to take up our issue with the [then] Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Finally, after a tripartite meeting with the State government and IISCO officials, IISCO promised to train 178 persons for their plant,” Mr. Roy said.
However, despite the 178 villagers completing their two-year training in January this year, they are yet to get absorbed. IISCO officials remained tight-lipped about the issue.
‘They will be employed’“They will be employed in good time. There are some formalities which need to be completed first,” said IISCO general manager (personnel and administration) Ashok Kumar Das.
While peasants were ‘satisfied’ with the Mamata Banerjee government, they would be ‘fully satisfied’ when the promised jobs were finally given to them, Mr. Roy said.
