Work at Tata Motors' small-car plant site was partially hit as construction, electrical and materials handling contractors have been facing issues with labour attendance.
Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh along with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banjeree met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil on Tuesday and apprised them of how farmers faced a tough time in Singur because of anti-farmer policies of the West Bengal government. He accused the Tatas of ditching people of West Bengal, especially Singur, over their failure to honour the terms of the agreement and leaving the state for Gujarat.
The state received robust investment announcements worth Rs 2,43,489 crore in calendar 2007. In calendar 2008, investments fell 63 per cent, to Rs 90,095 crore (Rs 900.95 billion). The general slowdown in economic growth, however, may also have played a part in Bengal's declining rank, given that many of its major investments were in such sectors as steel, real estate and power, all of which are current casualties of slowing demand.
Just when it was almost certain that the Tatas were pulling out the Nano project, the West Bengal Cabinet assured help and cooperation to Tata Motors and requested them to change their minds. The West Bengal Cabinet said after a meeting on Thursday that though the Nano project was not on the agenda, it came up for discussion following requests by ministers.
Since most projects can be shifted to other states, the problem will be minimal, especially if industry can find ways to make farmers partners in their profits.
According to those in the know, a solution will be tabled within a couple of days. Regional television channels in Kolkata too hinted that a solution was likely soon.
The bench accepted the plea of Tata's counsel to file the petition later in the day.
Mamata Banerjee and Singur share a history that dates back to 2006.
The local people of Singur in West Bengal have assured Indian automobile major Tata Motors of full cooperation for setting up a plant, prompting the industrial giant to consider meeting the representatives in this regard.
The 997-acre plot in Singur handed over by the West Bengal government to Tata Motors is likely to remain in the hands of the company and can be returned only after a year or so.
'One Sandeshkhali won't turn around women's perception of Mamata Banerjee in this state'
Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu on Friday welcomed Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's readiness to sit with the Tatas to find a solution to the Singur small car factory controversy.
Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu on Friday welcomed Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's readiness to sit with the Tatas for finding a solution to the Singur small car factory controversy.
The development came after the Calcutta high court refused to pass an interim order on Tata Motors' plea to restrain the state government from distributing from Tuesday land acquired there earlier to set up a company car manufacturing unit.
Top Tata executives do not attend swearing-in despite invite.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has adopted a 'wait and watch' policy in his bid to solve the Singur impasse with opposition Trinamool Congress rejecting his offer of talks on land acquisition on Thursday.
Proceedings in the Upper House have been derailed almost every day for the last 10 days on various issues ranging from the Babri Masjid demolition to the controversy generated over the prime minister's remarks on minorities.
Violence erupted at the Tata Motors plant site in Singur on Sunday when police fired rubber bullets and teargas at Krishi Jami Rakhsha Committee activists when they hurled bombs and bricks in a bid to enter the area.
Around 100 people of the committee entered the fenced off area at Bajemelia in Singur bloc early on Wednesday morning to uproot the posts.
Out of a total amount of Rs 119 crore earmarked for giving compensation to the land-owners, Rs 83 crore had already been disbursed, the report said.
The West Bengal government has accorded permission to the Tata Motors officials to carry on initial work in the land at Singur earmarked for its Rs 100,000 small car project.
Patkar, who was accompanied by members of Association for Protection of Democratic Righs, SUCI and women rights activist Anuradha Talwar, went around the area in a large group as police personnel looked on.
Hinting at a breakthrough in the Tatamotors land acquisition deal, former Prime minister V P Singh said he had a positive discussion on the issue with West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya on Friday.
The demonstration came in the wake of the High Court's observation on February 23 that the state government's process for acquiring land at Singur for the project prima facie appeared to be illegal.
After a marathon meet (lasting over two and half hours) with Bhattacharya and state Commerce and Industry Minister Nirupam Sen, Tata and the chief minister fielded questions from the media.
Amar Ghosh, a real estate broker, is negotiating a deal with a Mumbai-based company for 65 acres around Singur, 40 km from Kolkata, at Rs 22.5 lakh (Rs 2.25 million) per acre.
The state government had earlier proposed to construct a mega power plant in Singur with Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, but BHEL had expressed its inability for the same. Though the Singur site was with the Tatas, its group chairman Ratan Tata had earlier said he did not want to sit on the land and could give it back if the company was compensated for the investment it had made.
We visit Singur and find that farmers are reluctant to give up their land for an automobile plant.
The Railway Board is likely to utilise the undisputed 600 acres for setting-up a coach factory at Singur, the erstwhile site for the Nano project.
The land taken by Tata Motors at Singur for the erstwhile Nano car factory, and by the many companies who invested there to be vendors to the project, isn't set to change hands anytime soon.Tata and the vendors both say they plan to hold on to the lease titles, even as Trinamool Congress chief and Union railway minister Mamata Banerjee and the West Bengal government continue with their political posturing over a plan for a rail coach factory at the location.
Cricketer Yusuf Pathan will contest from the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat, whereas Kirti Aazd will fight from the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency.
Majority gram sabhas pass resolution to oppose SIR status to the area where Maruti's proposed unit is to come up.
The company wrote to the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee-led Left front government seeking clarification on the agreement in the wake of conflicting reports about the return of project land to farmers. A Tata group spokesperson confirmed that the company had written a letter to the government.
A year later, land prices are less than half the peak levels of Rs 20 lakh an acre.
'We want to make Bengal an automobile hub.'
According to party sources, the situation is more or less beyond repair. "We can forcibly remove Mamata Banerjee's agitators from Singur within a few hours. But it seems the Tatas have developed cold feet. After whatever has happened over the last few weeks, it is almost impossible to convince the Tatas to stay back in Bengal and restart the Nano project," said a central committee leader of the party.
Nano vendors say if all-India bookings cross 500,000, Tata Motors may have to explore the option of having a satellite plant to its present mother factory at Sanand near Ahmedabad. Many who had taken up space at the vendor park in Singur, the centre of the main dispute with the give-us-our-land-back agitationists led by the opposition Trinamool Congress, are hanging on in this hope.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the West Bengal government not to return land to farmers in Singur, that was earlier leased to the Tatas, for now.
The West Bengal chief minister did not have anything new to offer to Singur and its people, except that the site would be used for an industrial project.
Sajjan Jindal, vice-chairman and managing director of JSW Steel and one of West Bengal's most valued investors, said that he would have compensated unwilling farmers with double the land 800 acres next door in return for land for the Tata Motors factory at Singur.
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