Farmer death near Singur car plant

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Farmer death near Singur car plant

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Singur, Feb. 10: A man rendered jobless after the 1.5 acres he used to share with others was acquired for the Tata Motors plant here died today, allegedly of malnutrition. Kalipada Majhi, 45, of Beraberi Purbapara, about 100m from the project site, did not respond when his wife Kalpana called him at 7am today. A doctor said Kalipada had died of a cardiac failure around 6.30. “I was told that Kalipada was a sharecropper and had been ailing. He was left with no land to till after the acquisition for the Tata project. Only a probe will reveal whether he died of malnutrition,” said Chandernagore subdivisional officer Shekhar Roy, who has ordered an inquiry. Kalipada was a supporter of the Trinamul Congress-led Save Farmland Committee. Mamata Banerjee today visited his house and spoke to the family members. “People are dying young in Singur because of the government’s decision to grab land for the Tatas,” she alleged. MLA Partha Chatterjee, who was also here, said: “He didn’t have proper food for months. He couldn’t afford it.” Kalpana said: “Since our land was taken away in October 2006, it became difficult for my husband to make ends meet in our family of five.” “I don’t know what will happen to us,” she added, clutching daughter Namita. Namita, 15, will sit for this year’s Madhyamik examination. Her brother Sanat, 12, is in Class V. Kalipada’s mother Jaya is in her 70s. Singur police station officer-in-charge Priyabrata Bakshi said no complaint had been lodged.