The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay the operation of a Calcutta High Court judgment upholding the acquisition of about 1,000 acres of land in Singur by the West Bengal government for the Tata Motors

Tata Motors' small car project at Singur, which will produce the

The Supreme Court today refused to stay the Calcutta High Court order upholding the acquisition of 1,000 acres in Singur for the Nano plant. A bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan rejected pleas by a Calcutta lawyer and two Singur farmers to stay the January 18 judgment that held the land was acquired in "public interest'. The apex court, however, issued notices to the Centre, the state and Tata Motors. The farmers' counsel, Kalyan Bandopadhyay, alleged that the land had been acquired "illegally'.

The movement against land acquisition for industry started here. But unlike Nandigram, where not an inch was acquired but violence has become endemic, the buzzword here is development. On the eve of the polls in Singur, where around 1,000 acres were taken over for the Tata small-car project, the land war is not forgotten. But as the deadline for the Nano rollout draws closer, the mood is more of anticipation than apprehension.

Farmers from Bhiwqandi tehsil protested against the state government for their land-acquistion. They staged a rasta-roko agitation under the leadership of Shiv-Sena MLA, Yogesh Patil and ZP chairman, Kapil Patil near Pise-Panjrapur purification plant on the Nashik-Mumbai national highway no 3 in Bhiwandi tahsil. The farmers are against reservation of their land for setting up of MIDC by the state Government. Government had earlier notified on 28 January of the land acquisition that would affect farming activity on thousands of acres of farmland.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to put any roadblock before the world's cheapest car Nano's planned rollout by the year-end though it issued notices to its producer Tata Motors and the West Bengal government following a petition challenging land acquisition. A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice M.K. Sharma said it will not order any status quo on the issue of land acquisition for the car's plant in Singur in West Bengal.

The Supreme Court today declined to stay the Calcutta High Court judgment upholding the acquisition of land in Singur by Tata Motors to manufacture Nano, the Rs 1 lakh car. Therefore, there is no court bar against continuing with the project. However, the apex court issued notices to the West Bengal government, Tata Motors and the Centre on a set of appeals against the high court judgment. It might examine the validity of the land acquisition after the governments and the firm appear before it in July.

Making the situation more complex for the state government, activists opposing the Rs 12,000-crore Posco steel project at Paradip have formed a suicide squad. The Posco Pratirodha Sangram Samiti (PPSS), which is spearheading the anti-displacement movement, has formed the suicide squad with at least 50 members enrolled from Nuagaon panchayat, the proposed project site. The squad took oath at Sarala temple at Kanakpur in Jagatsinghpur district on Sunday and vowed to lay down their lives protecting their "motherland."

Villagers from the Bhiwandi taluka staged a

If you thought utilising agricultural land - khazans - for fish farming is bad. Hold your breath... It may not be long before it is officially allowed. In order to facilitate the use of khazan land for pisciculture purpose, the Fisheries Department has recommended amendment to the Land Revenue Act. The State has about 18000 hectares of Khazan land but vast portion has been left unutilized, or fallow. The Department of Fisheries believes it can be utilised for pisciculture.