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| Now, Mamata bats for auto firms |
| BS Reporter / Kolkata Nov 29, 2009, 00:32 IST |
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A year after protesting against the Nano plant, invites companies for auto hubs.
It was protests led by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee that led to the exit of Tata Motors’ small car project from Singur last year.
Today, Mamata, now railway minister, said “small is beautiful” as she pulled out all stops to invite the country’s leading automobile manufacturers to partner with the railways for its proposed “auto hubs” as well as for setting up ancillary units in the vicinity of these logistics facilities, at two locations in West Bengal.
The railways intend to construct 10 auto hubs on a public private partnership model. These will essentially be facilities for dispatch of vehicles arriving from production sites on their way to distributors.
While the railways will provide land, private players are expected to develop the infrastructure. Additional development in the form of ancillary units is anticipated to bolster these facilities.
“I encourage private participation for development of infrastructure and employment generation as these are things that the railways can’t do by itself. But we do have our land bank, which amounts to 112,000 acres, and can be given to those willing to set up facilities,” Mamta said in a speech during the stone-laying ceremony of the first such auto hub at Shalimar near Kolkata.
Representatives of six automobile companies were present at the event, including TML Distribution Company Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors.
Imploring private enterprises to capitalise on the cheap labour available across the country, she asked automotive firms to mull the possibility of opening ancillary units near these hubs, for which the railways could provide land.
Last year, she had been overt in demanding a shift of ancillary units setting up shop at Singur. The units were to be coupled with Tata Motors’ Nano project.
“At present, about 2 per cent automobiles are transported by the railways and once these hubs are functional, the number is expected to increase to 15 per cent. We anticipate annual earnings of Rs 1,000 crore from automobile transport alone,” she added.
Incidentally, the railways and the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (SIAM), part of the joint task force for the hubs, have been working on plans for these facilities for almost 2 years.
Indeed, before Banerjee became the railway minister, designing of a new rake for economising the transport of two- , three- and four-wheelers had already begun, a top official from SIAM said.
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