Calcutta, May 24: Mamata Banerjee today said her party would not allow farmland to be acquired for industry in South 24-Parganas and East Midnapore, whose zilla parishads the Trinamul Congress wrested from the CPM in the panchayat elections.

“Our party will form the zilla parishads in a couple of days. We will not allow farmland acquisition for industry,” Mamata told a news conference at her home in Kalighat, Calcutta.

“We are not opposed to industry,” she added. “But only fallow land should be earmarked for industry. The government has (tried to) forcibly grab multi-crop land in these two districts.”

Land is yet to be acquired for a slew of projects in South 24-Parganas and East Midnapore. These include the Indonesia-based Salim group’s six-lane highway connecting Barasat in North 24-Parganas to Raichak in South 24-Parganas, a host of industrial clusters and housing projects, two special economic zones (SEZs), two bridges and a shipyard.

The New Kolkata International Development, a Salim group associate, will need around 16,000 acres, excluding the SEZs, in South 24-Parganas and East Midnapore. The Apeejay Group needs around 430 acres for the planned shipyard in Geonkhali, East Midnapore.

State land and land reforms minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah said the new zilla parishads would have no say either in the process of land acquisition or in the projects.

“The government acquires land under the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 for development — a zilla parishad has no say in it,” Mollah said. He clarified that industries did not need no-objection certificates from zilla parishads.

Yet, the government knows that even if land is acquired, it can be difficult executing projects on the ground without help from the grassroots machinery.

Mollah added: “We should not forget that people have voted against us in South 24-Parganas and East Midnapore. Given the public mood, we will not go in for land acquisition in a hasty manner. We shall have to take the people into confidence before going ahead with any industrial project in these two districts.”

The land controversy began when the government acquired nearly 1,000 acres for Tata Motors’ small-car plant in Singur, Hooghly. Mamata today repeated her demand for the company to return the 400 acres she claims were “forcibly” acquired from farmers.

She ruled out talks with the state government on land acquisition for industry, citing “CPM terror” in the districts. “CPM cadres, rejected by the people, have let loose terror on our elected representatives everywhere in the districts.”