It's final: Tata Motors to pull out of Singur

NDTV Correspondent
Friday, October 03, 2008 (Kolkata)

Ratan Tata has finally decided to pull out their Nano car plant from Singur, the controversial site in West
Bengal.

So, the Rs one-lakh people's car will not be rolling out of West Bengal after all.

Ratan Tata met the West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya on Friday afternoon, but that
meeting failed to convince Tata to stay on.

"The decision to move out is taken with great deal of sadness and the opposing parties were sole reason,"
said Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata group.

"We are moving out now because we have a deadline to meet. We are leaving because of Mamata
Banerjee and not the state government," he said.

"We do not see any changes on the horizon. We have been caught in political cross-fire," he added.

On being asked where Nano is moving now, Tata said that the company has offers from three to four state
governments. On meeting the Nano car's deadline, tata said that he will do everything possible to get close.

"Buddhadeb was very distressed when I told him," he said.

Tata's decision has brought an end to more than a month long agitation, led by the Trinamool Congress
chief Mamata Banerjee.

Banerjee wanted 300 acres carved out from the land leased to the Tatas and returned to farmers, who did
not willingly give their land.

A long struggle

The protest against the Nano plant started between May and December 2006, when locals heckled Tata
officials to protest land acquisition. Police had to teargas them, following which Mamata went on a hunger
strike for 26 days.

Then, from August 24, 2008, Mamata began her gherao of the Tata factory. Four days on, her supporters
threatened Tata employees and on September 2, Tata Motors declared the suspension of work at Singur.

On September 7, West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi oversaw an agreement between the
Trinamool and the government but could not get them to agree on what the term maximum in the pact
meant. Mamata claimed 300 acres while the government offered 70.

Hopes for a resolution rose on September 12 when Buddhadeb offered a revised economic package for
Singur's farmers. Mamata rejected the package out of hand.

Since then, there has been no work at the factory though the deadline to produce the Nano in the October
to December quarter is looming large enough for Ratan Tata that made him take the final call.