Oct Nano launch looks bleak

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New Delhi, August 29: : Tata Motors’ plan to roll out the Nano by October is looking difficult, as work at its project site in Singur slowed down further on the fifth day of the dharna organised outside the factory by Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee. The Left Front government in the state took a hands-off approach, as fresh incidents of intimidation of workers were reported.

On Thursday afternoon, political workers blocked the entry of a Tata Motors vehicle at Gate No. 4. Earlier, in the day, some Trinamool supporters had tried to barge into the factory from the same gate but were stopped by the security and police.

Sources at the project site said the October deadline is being jeopardised by the “constant decline in attendance of contractual labourers”, which has dropped to 15%.

With Mamata’s dharna blocking the key Durgapur expressway, which is a part of National Highway 2 linking Kolkata to Delhi and north India, thousands of trucks and other vehicles remained stranded for the fifth day. But state chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb said the police will not apply force. “People will have to wait,” Deb said, referring to the stalled traffic on the expressway. Home secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborti said the situation is grave.

Thursday’s incidents have scared contract workers reporting for the construction work, coming as these a day after the assault on some contract workers. Mamata, who had promised a peaceful agitation when she launched the dharna last Sunday, continued to camp outside the main gate, unrelenting in her demand that 400 acres be returned to farmers who have refused to sell out even though the government has acquired the land, and the main factory has come up on it.

On Thursday, a Kolkata resident filed a public interest litigation in the Calcutta High Court, calling on the court to direct the state government and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to ensure free flow of traffic on the expressway. The court admitted the PIL and has listed it for hearing Friday.

The PIL alleged that the Trinamool agitation had stranded over 30,000 vehicles, including heavy trucks on the expressway, and that the administration and NHAI have failed to maintain the free flow of traffic so the court should direct them to take steps to restore normal traffic. It said perishable food articles in the trucks are rotting, leading to fears of epidemics.