Tatas may hang on to Singur land, say reports

04 April 2009

As Tata Motors prepares to cough up Rs1 crore as lease for the land in Singur that it abandoned last year after massive protests over its acquisition, speculation is rife that it may decide to keep the land after all.

The Bengal government has sent a notice to the car maker asking it to make its advance lease payment for the 645.67 acres it acquired at Singur for its Nano project. The rental became due on 15 March, but the company has a three-month grace period to pay up.

On Wednesday, Tata Motors said the company would discuss its plans for the leased plot with the Bengal government, but did not give any further details. Also, at the commercial launch of the Nano in Mumbai on 23 March, group chairman Ratan Tata had said the company had no plans to give up the land at Singur just yet. ''The factory sheds are still in place over there. We haven't decided what to do with them,'' Tata had said.

Bengal's industry secretary Sabyasachi Sen had told reporters in Singapore recently that the Nano could still roll out of Singur. ''We have lost the chance of being the first production unit of Nano. But it could still roll out of Singur later if local objections can be resolved through dialogue. Ultimately, Tata Motors may have to go in for more than one production centre in India. However, the decision rests with Tata Motors,'' Sen had said.

Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told a news channel last week that he had sent a ''message'' to Ratan Tata that the people of Singur wanted him back.

Tata Motors is now setting up the mother plant for the Nano at Sanand in Gujarat, which is expected to be operational by early next year. The Tata Group has clung on to the land that was allotted in other states as well where it couldn't set up projects because of local opposition. Tata Steel, for instance, has retained possession of about 3,000 acres at Gopalpur in Orissa for more than a decade.