Farmers reject new Nano plant compensation

A Tata Nano is displayed during the first media day of the 78th Geneva Car Show at the Palexpo in Geneva in this March 4, 2008 file photo.

SINGUR (Reuters) - Farmers and political activists in West Bengal turned down on Tuesday a new government offer of compensation for land acquired for a Tata Motors car plant, saying they wanted more of the land returned to them.

Tata Motors suspended work at the factory in Singur earlier this month and threatened to look at alternative sites to build its cheap Nano car, following violent protests by farmers backed by opposition party Trinamool Congress.

Many farmers said they had been forced off their land to make way for the factory without adequate compensation.

The Trinamool Congress, which has been spearheading the protests, withdrew demonstrations briefly last week after the government promised to return some land to farmers.

The government sat with them for talks and issued advertisements in local newspapers, offering a rehabilitation package for people affected by the project in Singur, an hour's drive from Kolkata, the state capital.

They also offered to return 70 acres (30 hectares) of land from the proposed factory complex.

But the local Trinamool Congress was back in Singur on Tuesday, threatening more protests.

"The state government's package of 70 acres of land within the project area is not acceptable to us," Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool chief said, as thousands of protesters cheered.

"We want 300 acres (120 hectares) within the project area back now," she said.

Hundreds of policemen guarded the factory as farmers and political activists shouted: "Tata go back" and "Give back our land."

Tata Motors, which has said it aims to launch the Nano around October, declined comment on Tuesday.

The Nano protests reflect a larger standoff between industry and farmers unwilling to give up land in a country where two-thirds of the population depend on farming.

The Nano factory is being built on about 1,000 acres (400 hectares) of land, and Tata Motors says it cannot give back more land without affecting the project's viability.

(Additional reporting by Rina Chandran in Mumbai)