Flooding in the Tata Motors plant and effects on surrounding villages

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Drive to unclog Singur

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Calcutta, July 8: The government has lined up a project to end frequent waterlogging in Singur because the area was about to become “a very important location” on the state’s industrial map. “Singur is going to become a very important location... Keeping in view the future of the area… a master plan has been formulated,” irrigation minister Subhas Naskar said in the Assembly after tabling his department’s budget. Mackintosh Burn will execute the Rs 157-crore project to be funded by the state industrial development corporation. Flooding at the Tata Motors project site in Singur had disrupted work for almost a month last year. When the wa-ters receded, mounds of soil had to be dumped in the project area to level it. In January this year, the chief minister had held a meeting with his industries and irrigation ministers and Tata officials to find a solution to the problem. After that meeting, indus- tries minister Nirupam Sen had said: “We do not want a repeat of what happened at Singur last July.” The government had then said the project would be completed before this monsoon but that did not happen. Naskar today said the project would involve resuscitation of the many drainage canals around Singur and making provision for embankments along them. “Water regulators and pump houses will have to be built. Sluice gates will have to be repaired or replaced.’’