Small consolation: Tata Motors confirms Nano's limited production in Uttarakhand

With Tata Motors deciding to shift its Nano project to Gujarat, Uttarakhand Chief Minister B C Khanduri today said the company would still go for a limited production of the small car from Pantnagar.

“Although Uttarakhand was on the top priority list of the Tatas, we could not fulfil the land requirement in this regard,” Khanduri told reporters here.

However, Khanduri said the company officials have said that it would go for limited production of Nano from the company's existing facility in the Pantnagar industrial estate where the auto major is currently producing Ace trucks.

Significantly, this is the first official confirmation by the state government of Nano's limited production in Uttarakhand after Tata Motors faced political resistance at Singur. Khanduri’s comments came moments after Chief Secretary Indu Kumar Pande was told by top Tata Motors' officials that the company has decided to set up the mother plant in Gujarat.

“We tried our best, but we cannot do much if the company decides to set up a new plant elsewhere,” said Khanduri. Officials said the company apparently chose Gujarat because it can avail port facility for exporting cars. But they maintained that the company would like to use Pantnagar only as an interim production facility. But the officials said since the land was not available at Pantnagar, the government could have offered notified land to the auto major in the industrial town of Kashipur.

Sensing that Uttarakhand was lagging behind in the race, Sidcul officials had chalked out a plan to offer 1,000 acres of notified land to at the Escorts Farms in Kashipur area of the Kumaon region, where the state government wants to set up an industrial estate.