Tata Motors, whose upcoming plant in Singur in West Bengal is in the thick of a controversy regarding acquisition of land from farmers, on Sunday signalled a softening of its earlier stance on pulling out of the state. In a statement in response to a West Bengal government advertisement on rehabilitation package to Singur farmers, the company said that it supported the new rehabilitation package, and hoped that farmers would respond positively to it and allow the Nano project to come up.
The government, which in addition to offering 70 acres of land back for public purpose, in a public announcement proposed to award 50% more price for the land acquired from the farmers, besides other incentives.
?Tata Motors appreciates and supports the recent initiatives of the government of West Bengal for the residents of the Singur area where it had acquired land for Tata Motors? Nano project,? it said, adding it ?hopes that these initiatives will evoke a positive response from the residents of Singur, and that all stakeholders will contribute to create a congenial environment conducive to the long-term sustained operations of an industrial enterprise.?
The statement, attributed to a company spokesperson, further said that, ?Tata Motors decided to set up its Nano plant at Singur to play an active role in the re-industrialisation of the state of West Bengal and make a contribution to the economic development of the region, providing direct and indirect employment opportunities and participating in the overall community development.?
The West Bengal government, desperate to stimulate the state?s economy, had invited Tatas to set up the project in Singur by matching incentives offered by others like Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
The Tata group company plans to build a factory at Singur to manufacture the world?s cheapest car Nano, priced at Rs 1 lakh, but the project has been facing protests from locals led by the main opposition Trinamool Congress over land acquisition. Tata had suspended work at the plant and threatened to look at opportunities elsewhere to make the Nano, since the agitators had paralysed the area, bringing supplies into the plant to a complete halt.
