In a bid to assuage concerns over compensation issues, Tata Motors has reached out to select vendors that had set up manufacturing facilities at Singur. The company is learnt to have assured these vendors that it would take up matters concerning compensation, including the investments made in supporting infrastructure around its facilities with the West Bengal government.
Tata Motors has also indicated that the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress is likely to hold a tripartite meeting with the vendors to reach a middle ground, three component manufacturers with direct knowledge of the matter told FE. Tatas? attempts to reach out to the auto component industry comes in the backdrop of the government reclaiming the land under the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Bill that was passed by the assembly on Tuesday. The Tatas along with the vendors have constructed sewage systems and water canals apart from building boundary walls which many fear would not be compensated for.
Sources said the company had been in constant touch with auto component manufactures, especially after the new government took charge in Bengal. ?The Tatas got in touch with us last week, assuring us that a meeting has been sought with the Bengal government. Tata Motors is hopeful that a meeting would be shortly convened,? a vendor said.
As per the Bill which was passed by the assembly on Tuesday, the state government would take back 400 acres out of 997 acre of land from Tata Motors and its vast 50-odd vendor base. The bill states that the amount of compensation to Tata Motors would be ?adjudged and determined? by the district court of Hooghly ?in due compliance with the principles of natural justice and by reasoned order.?
As per the compensation package to Tata Motors, apart from the quantum decided by the district court, the government would also add interest of 6% per annum over the last three years. The bill is, however, silent on compensation to vendors. It merely states that the component makers would be refunded the premium they have paid on the land after deducting the rent arrears.
However, when contacted, a Tata Motors spokesperson said that the company had not sent any letter to the vendors. He said the company had not acquired the land for the Singur project but had got in on lease. ?The land was acquired by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation and leased out to us,? he added.
FE spoke to a slew of vendors who said that they were completely in the dark about how the Banerjee government would compensate the component manufacturers. What has further infuriated the vendor community is how the government took a completely unilateral decision on reclaiming the land without consulting the component makers.
?We have built infrastructure on the Singur land and it has been lying idle for four years. We should be compensated for the construction work we have undertaken also,? an executive of a component company said.