Mamata says work at Tata plant can resume

SINGUR/KOLKATA: Whether it's a scramble for a face-saving exit or pressure from the ranks, Mamata Banerjee appears to be softening and creating a glimmer of hope for an early resolution to the Singur impasse.

Even as cops started opening up parts of the Durgapur Expressway - on which the Nano plant is situated - Mamata, on the ninth day of the Singur siege, scaled down her defiance and gave a go-ahead to the Tatas to resume work at the small car factory that had come to a halt for the last four days.

Fearing security of the workers in the face of threats from agitators, Tatas had shut down the facility and even threatened to pull out their investment.

"We want the work to resume in the factory. We are not against the Tatas. Let there be talks to resolve the impasse," Mamata said.

The Trinamool chief also sent her emissary and leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly, Partha Chatterjee, to governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi to convey, among other things, that she was ready for talks over the return of land to the unwilling farmers.

SOURCE : ET