Director of Industries M V Rao, who was overseeing the work, told PTI that the fencing was complete and the land would be handed over to the Tatas any day.
Many farmers with large holdings spoke of labour problems in tilling their land. Krishna Kishore Ghose of Gopalnagar Madhyapara, said that initially he was reluctant to give up his land.
"But later I even convinced my brothers to hand over their land. We were regularly facing a problem of getting labourers," Ghose, whose family owned 14 acres, said.
Another farmer, Joydeb Ghose, who gave up 13 'bigha', hopes of securing a dealership for the 'dream car' scheduled to roll out from the Singur plant in 2008.
But some marginal farmers like Kamalkanta Khanra of Bajemelia and Bharat Chandra Das of Beraberi Purbapara were still apprehensive and have refused to part with their land. "We will continue to oppose the project," they said. Haradhan Bag, a marginal farmer, said he would rather give up his life than sell his land.
Many villagers, however, said the entire 997 acres required for the project was not multi-crop land as claimed by opposition parties who were against the acquisition of farmland.
Stating that it was only natural that some people were still opposed to the project, Rao said "that feeling will be there. They were accustomed to a style of living all these years, but it is our responsibility to convince them".
Rao said the acquisition of the land, for which 95 per cent people gave their consent, was complete and 65 per cent of compensation had been paid. He admitted that five per cent of the farmers had not given their consent.
Dismissing apprehensions of the farmers, he said, the government would try to provide an alternative livelihood to one member of each family that gave up their land for the project.
"The government will tie up with banks to arrange finance for them set up business units and if required will help them get land for it," Rao said.
Meanwhile, with political bigwigs like BJP president Rajnath Singh, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and social activist Medha Patkar making attempts to reach Singur in the past few days, police were stopping cars to check if any opposition party leader was inside. A number of police pickets have been set up en route to Singur from Kolkata on the National Highway.
Tata car: Why farmers are on a warpath
