Chennai/Kolkata, Sept. 2 Tata Motors is all set to pull out of Singur in West Bengal, from where it was to roll out its low-cost car Nano.
In a statement today, the company said it is “evaluating alternate options for manufacturing the Nano car at other company facilities and a detailed plan to relocate the plant and machinery to an alternate site is under preparation.”
It said “to minimise the impact this may have on the recently recruited and trained people from West Bengal, the company is exploring the possibility of absorbing them at its other plant locations.”
Tata Motors is expected to stick to its schedule of rolling out the Nano shortly, from its Uttarakhand plant. Several States have wooed Tata Motors with offer of land.
The statement ends speculation ever since Mr Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata group, said in Kolkata on August 22 that the company would not hesitate to pull out of Singur despite the investments in the plant.
Governor’s initiative
The Trinamool Congress leader Ms Mamata Banerjee has been agitating against the project, demanding that 400 acres of the 1,000 acres acquired for the project be returned to the owners. The West Bengal Governor, Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi, took an initiative to find a solution to the deadlock, a move that was welcomed by both the Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, and Ms Mamata Banerjee. Both Ms Banerjee and the Chief Minister met the Governor today.
Tata Motors’ statement said that construction of the plant has faced challenges at various points of time. Some of the international consultants working on the plant had returned home and the construction work in the plant stalled since August 28.
- Read full story at Hindu Business Line, Sept 3, 2008
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