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Seeking a complete ban on conversion of fertile agriculture land for any other purpose, including industrialisation, Magasaysay award winner Mahasweta Devi today demanded complete rehabilitation of the displaced people.

Hitting out at the Left Front government in West Bengal for handing over 1,000 acres of fertile land at Singur to the Tatas for a small car project, she claimed the land was multi-crop.

Addressing a function to mark the closure of the 23rd Bhubaneswar Book fair here, she asked the writers to make people aware of their rights.

"I do not understand why the West Bengal government has to give away 1,000 acres of land to a company for a small-car industry while a similar facility was set up in 300 acres of land at Gurgaon in Haryana", she said.

Alleging the Left Front government was making 'indiscriminate' land allotment to industries like Salem, Tatas and Jindal, she demanded a halt to it.

Expressing concern for the tribals of Kalinga Nagar in Orissa, where a Tata steel project was proposed to come up, the Jnanpith award winner said that the need was for more peoples' movements to check state governments from going ahead with 'mindless' industrialisation.

The octogenarian writer expressed surprise at the people's concern for land and their love for cultivation. "Nearly 20,000 people, mostly women, greeted me when I visited Haripur village near Singur".

"It is women power that has been fighting against the misdeeds of the West Bengal government. It is not Mamata Banerjee alone, thousands of women are committed not to spare their agricultural land to Tatas in Singur," she said.

Making it clear that she does not belong to any political party, Mahasweta Devi thanked the Trinamool Congress chief for single-handedly continuing her fight against alleged misuse of fertile land.

"We have no objection to industrialisation in barren and wasteland that is not of any use for the local people", she said.

The eminent writer also criticised the MPs from state for not raising the issue in Parliament.

On the Kalinga Nagar issue, she said the displaced people must be properly rehabilitated with school, health service, drinking water and other facilities.

Mahasweta also lauded the RTI (Right To Information) Act which she described as a major tool to fight corruption.

She also announced to donate Rs 10,000, which she received from the organisers of the book fair, for the welfare of a particular tribe in West Bengal.