Kolkata-based paints major Berger Paints India had just finished painting three Nano cars red when Mamata Banerjee’s agitation forced Tata Motors to suspend work at Singur.
?We painted the three cars barely 15 days ago and engineers from Pune approved it. We have already supplied the first batch of 500 litres of red paint,? said Subir Bose, managing director of Berger, the country?s second-largest paint manufacturer.
Berger’s business with Tata Motors amounts to Rs 50 crore, supplying paint to the Tatas’ Jamshedpur and Ranjangaon plants.
?At Singur for the Nano car, we got the contract to supply red paint. We were to supply 1,000 litres in all, which would paint 300 cars,? added Bose.
The first batch of the Nano is to come out in six colours including red (the most popular colour for small cars), white and metallic silver.
Bose is ?very saddened? at the Singur deadlock and said that if the Tatas pull out, it will have a negative impact on industry in West Bengal. ?The world is watching and investors will never touch West Bengal ever if the Tatas leave. It will have a disastrous effect on the state.? So, what’s the solution? ?I am an optimist and the brinkmanship of the highest order is being played out. Hopefully, people will see reason and pull back from the brink,? he said.
Ask him who is responsible for the mess and Bose quips: “Everybody. There’s no point in blaming Mamata Banerjee alone. The government should have seen this coming months ago.?