The Hindu Business Line : Nano will roll out from Singur in Oct: Buddhadeb

Kolkata, Aug 26 The Tata small car Nano will roll out of the Singur factory in October as scheduled, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, West Bengal Chief Minister, told a gathering of industry leaders here on Tuesday.

“I am trying to convince the Opposition in my own way to arrive at a consensus on the issue. I am not an egoist but I am optimistic and believe that the factory will come up in October,” he said.

‘No Backtrack’

In the same breath, however, he ruled out the possibility of returning 400 acres of land acquired for setting up ancillary units as demanded by the Trinamool Congress. Returning the land would mean abandoning the project, he said.

Expressing his concern over the offers made by other State governments to the Tatas, he said, “A number of states have sent feelers to the company. I cannot afford to roll back the project and allow them go elsewhere to set up the factory.”

This apart, it was not legally possible to return the land to the farmers.

As the land has been acquired for public purpose, the law did not permit the Government to return it to the 0original owners, he explained.

Willing to help farmers

The State Government was, however, willing to discuss the issue and formulate a package for the unemployed farmers. “There are some families in Singur that have no other means of livelihood and we have devised some special schemes for them,” he said.

Mr Bhattacharjee ruled out the possibility of direct negotiations with farmers.

“It is not possible to directly negotiate with them on this issue as a good number of them are absentee landlords and some did not have the papers,” he pointed out.

The Singur issue will, however not affect the overall investment climate in the State. “There are huge investments coming into the State. Singur is an exceptional case and does not reflect the general economic condition of the State,” the Chief Minister said.

Mr Sajjan Jindal, President, Assocham and Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, JSW, said Singur incident was unfortunate but he was not perturbed by it.

There could be some setbacks in the short term but people will forget these issues, he said.

“It is only a matter of time and the situation can be controlled through dialogue and discussion,” he added.

Our Chennai bureau adds: In a statement, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers wanted an early solution to the Singur issue. “The investments being made would result in a product that is a global first and hence global attention is on the developments,” it said and added that the company’s decision to locate the plant at Singur could change the lives of people in the area and also revive industrialisation in West Bengal.