Of the 997 acres of land acquired for the Nano factory, 645 acres had been earmarked for the mother plant. Almost 85 per cent of the work for the main plant was complete before Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee’s dharna outside the site ultimately forced the Tatas to suspend work.

The government, which had acquired the land from the farmers, had earmarked 298 acres for the ancillary units, 15 acres for a power substation and 47 acres for rehabilitating the land-losers.

Tata group Chairman Ratan Tata, in his reply to the Governor’s letter inviting him to Friday’s meeting between the state government and Trinamool representatives, has said he has no problem in attending the talks to be chaired by the Governor, but will not accept any change in the land distribution pattern.

“Ratan Tata has clearly said that they had no problem in attending tomorrow’s meeting but if the government brings about any change in the distribution pattern of land at Singur they will pull out of the state,” a Government source told The Indian Express.

Mamata wants the government to return 400 acres, she claims belongs to farmers who were unwilling to move out. This land, however, has no clear demarcation and consists of small holdings scattered all over the project site.

Even if the government clears the legal hurdles that prevent it from returning acquired land, it will mean the end of the entire project.

On Wednesday, Land and Land Reforms Minister Abdur Rezzaq Mollah had told The Indian Express that a process has been started to explore the possibility of returning some land from the project site to the landlosers.

The government can return only 47 acres that it has in its possession where it has plans to set up stalls to be given to landlosers, Commerce and Industries Minister Nirupam Sen said.

“We have only 47 acres with us,” said Sen, who, along with minister for health and panchayat Surjyakanta Mishra, called on the Governor on Thursday. The ministers were accompanied by Sen’s top bureaucrat Sabyasachi Sen, Chief Secretary Amit Kiran Deb, Home Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakrabarti and the managing director of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, Subrata Gupta.

The minister also explained the legal complications that could arise in returning land to farmers who did not accept money for their land.

PIL filed against Governor’s meeting
Joydeep Mukherjee, a member of the All India Legal Aid Forum, on Thursday filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court against the meeting called by Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi. The meeting is scheduled to be held on Friday at Raj Bhavan on the Singur issue.

Mukherjee said in the petition that the land acquisition process at Singur was pending before the Supreme Court. At this stage the Governor has called a meeting on the land issue with the government and a particular political party. So the meeting should be considered as unconstitutional.

Mukherjee had filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court challenging the final verdict of the Calcutta High Court. Delivering the final verdict on January 18, 2008 the Calcutta High Court had held that the land acquisition process at Singur was legally valid.