Singur, Aug. 26: Some of Singur’s unwilling landlosers say Mamata Banerjee should have accepted the chief minister’s talks offer yesterday for their sake.

Although they want their land back — a demand on which Mamata has laid siege to the Tata Motors plant since Sunday — they do not realistically hope this would happen.

Some of them told The Telegraph today that if the state government came up with a reasonably attractive alternative package, they were prepared to consider it.

“Didi should have agreed to (Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s) talks proposal. She made a mistake — there is no harm in holding talks,” said Bhupen Sahu, 52, at Gopalnagar Paschimpara, one of two villages close to the Nano plant this correspondent visited today.

Yesterday, Bhattacharjee had sought “direct talks” with the rider that the small-car project must be kept “intact in its entirety”, but the Trinamul Congress chief ruled out any discussion till the “forcibly acquired” 400 acres were returned.

Bhupen said: “If the government comes up with a constructive proposal, I can agree to it. We have to survive and the government has to ensure it.”

The farmer had refused the compensation for his 10-cottah plot — “It yielded three harvests a year,” he said bitterly. He and son Ananda now work as labourers, each earning Rs 50-60 a day.

Bhupen did not go to the dharna site to listen to Mamata today. “The family will starve if we don’t work; there’s no point wasting a day’s wages. But I did go on the first day.”

Radharani Sahu, 55, too wants Mamata to talk to the government. Ever since her 40 cottahs were acquired, the family has been surviving on the pension of her husband Pranesh Kumar Sahu, a retired teacher. The couple’s son Dipak is jobless.

“If the government can provide a job for my son, we can think about its proposal. How long can we live in uncertainty?” she asked.

Various sources have said the government might build a market complex for the aggrieved landlosers, or offer the worst affected among them jobs, loans or pension.

But the villagers are disappointed with the chief minister and his government too. Radharani recalled how the police beat up villagers when they protested against their land being taken over without consent.

“The government should understand that land is an emotional issue for us — my husband refused to step out of his room for days after our plot was acquired,” she said.

Lalmohan Sahu, who has lost his eyesight, holds no brief for either Bhattacharjee or Mamata. He said the entire controversy had become politicised.

“The chief minister and his government are arrogant. We are suffering because of an ego clash between the two leaders,” Lalmohan, who owned 50 cottahs, added.

Most landlosers who refused compensation now work as day labourers. “Earlier we tilled our land and had enough grain for our family to last a year. Now we have to work on others’ land,” said Dilip Mitra, who owned 30 cottahs.

“I want my plot back. The government and the Opposition should think about our interests,” he said, his two-year-old daughter on his shoulders.

Sahadeb Chakraborty of Bajemelia, however, is certain he has seen the last of his 20-cottah plot.

“Both Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Mamata didi are people’s representatives. They should think about us,” he said. “We don’t want to part with our land, nor do we want people to play politics with it.”