New Singur project to generate more jobs than Nano: Buddhadeb
Friday, April 24, 2009 (23:38:07) Tags : Industry, Trade, India
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today said a factory to be built on the land in Singur that Tata Motors had abandoned would "generate more employment" than the Nano project and that a decision on this would be taken after the Lok Sabha polls.
"As you all know, Chinese automobile company FAW (First Automobile Works) has seen the plot. They met me also. They are ready to come to the state at any point of time," Bhattacharjee said in an interview to a regional news channel. "We are keen to use that plot of land for industrial purposes. We have plans to make such a factory over there that will generate more employment than the Tata Nano project," he said.
Global auto major Tata Motors planned to roll out the Nano, the world's cheapest car, from its factory at Singur, 40 km from here in Hooghly district. But from May 2006, when the state government announced the Tata Nano project, Singur turned into a battleground for about two-and-a-half years.
The opposition Trinamool Congress led a sustained campaign against land acquisition in Singur, forcing Tata Motors to scrap its plans to bring out the peoples' car, priced at Rs.100,000, from Singur. Tata Motors shifted the project to Sanand in Gujarat as the automobile group was against relocating any of the ancillaries in the integrated project.
Bhattacharjee rued the fact that he failed to make the opposition understand the meaning of ancilliary units and the integrated nature of the Nano project. Nano was unveiled on March 23 in Mumbai.
The chief minister said that the government was now waiting for Tata Motors to return the land in Singur, which they had taken on lease from West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC). He, however, ruled out any possibility of Tata Motors returning to Singur in the near future.
Bhattacharjee said that the opposition was now trying to act against the petrochemical hub coming up in Nayachar island in East Midnapore district that was shifted from Nandigram district following widespread protests.
"The opposition parties are trying to repeat in Nayachar what they did in Nandigram. But we have got clearance from all the departments for the petrochemical hub," he said. The chemical hub would be set up as a joint venture project of the WBIDC and New Kolkata International Development.(IANS)
