Ratan Tata, West Begal CM plan final meet over Sigur

Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata is likely to meet West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Sunday in a last-ditch effort to resolve the land row in Singur.

The development follows a letter the chief minister wrote to the Tata Group chairman yesterday not to shift the Nano project from Singur and assured all cooperation, including police protection of the site.

Ratan Tata had replied to his letter and expressed willingness to talk to him.

''Today Ratan Tata had replied to my letter and has expressed his willingness to talk to me and I told him I would hold discussions with him,'' the chief minister told a rally of the Student Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the CPI (M).

Bhattacharjee said he had communicated to Ratan Tata that he fully appreciated the problems he was facing in setting up the Nano automobile plant.

''I told Tata that he should ponder that this will not only be an automobile industry for the state, but will usher in industrial resurgence in Bengal,'' the chief minister said.

While work has been suspended in the Singur project for over a month and Bhattacharjee said he was trying his best to keep the Nano project in Bengal in the face of severe resistance by the opposition.

Reports, meanwhile, ruled out the possibility of a meeting between the West Bengal government and Tata Motors officials.

Reports citing chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb today said there was no need for a meeting. ''Is there a need for a meeting?" Deb asked, adding, "I do not think there is a need for a meeting.''

The chief secretary had yesterday said that the meeting between the state government and the Tata Motors officials will be held on September 28.