WB govt reassures Tatas, asks to start operation in Singur

Kolkata, Sept 9 (PTI) West Bengal government has asked
Tata Motors to start operations at its small car manufacturing
unit and reassured that no land would be taken out of the
company's main plant in Singur or from areas earmarked for its
ancillary units for giving to landlosers.

"We have assured the Tatas again that no land will be
taken out of the project area and the state government wants
Nano car to roll out from Singur," state Commerce and Industry
Minister Nirupam Sen said in an interview to a private TV
channel.

To a question Sen said, the government had never agreed
to the opposition Trinamool Congress's demand made during the
bilateral talks at Raj Bhavan on Sunday that it should part
with the Tata small car project land to the land losers.

"We have agreed to explore the possibility of identifying
and locating as much land available in the area for giving it
to those affected by the land acquisition," he said adding
there was a patch of land under the custody of West Bengal
Industrial Development Corporation.

Expressing hope that opposition parties would appreciate
the "gravity of the situation" if the Tatas pulled out of the
project in view of the disruption, Sen said in the interview
telecast today "I appeal to all to facilitate the Tatas to
restart the operations at the Singur plant peacefully and
smoothly."

Responding to the anxiety expressed by the Tatas about
the reported parting of land in the project area as claimed by
the opposition after Sunday's talks, he exhorted the
opposition not to campaign in a way which would prevent the
Tatas from restarting work.

Sen said the government has assured Tata Motors that land
in the project would be kept intact and the company would have
no difficulty in restarting work.

Asked about the possibilty of Tata shifting to Pantnagar
in Uttarakhand, the Minister said it would be 'utterly
unfortunate' for West Bengal.

"We strongly believe that congenial atmosphere will
prevail in the Singur project area and the opposition will
fully cooperate with the government and the Tatas in ensuring
that the Nano car roll out from West Bengal becomes a
reality."

West Bengal government was doing its best to pave the way
for restart of the plant operations, he said.

Sen's comments came in response to the concern expressed
by Tata Motors Managing Director Ravi Kant about the
opposition's claims that part of the project land would be
taken as per the understanding reached at in Sunday's meeting
chaired by Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi.

Kant had sought a clarification from the state government
about the agreement. The state government had yesterday said
there would not be any change in the Tata Motors' Singur
plant, nor any relocation of the vendors' park.

"There will not be any change in the Tata project, nor
any relocation of vendors' park," Sen had told reporters in
the presence of Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee at the
state secretariat.

Sen had said the Nano plant and vendor's park are an
integrated project "and it is a very important issue".