Tata Motors pays Rs 1-cr lease rent on Singur land

Tata Motors has paid the lease rent of Rs 1 crore till March next year for its land at Singur, where the company’s small car, Nano, was initially scheduled to roll out from.

Officials of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation said today the company paid the advance annual lease rent of Rs 1 crore last month for the year 2010-11.

Tata Motors had withdrawn the Nano project from Singur in West Bengal in October 2008 and shifted it to Sanand in Gujarat, as it faced opposition from displaced farmers.

When asked whether Tata Motors was willing to retain the land, a company spokesman said, “Paying the rent indicates that the land is with us on lease.”

The West Bengal government had sought return of the Singur land from the Tatas for the purpose of having an alternative project, as proposed by the railway ministry.

However, Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata had categorically stated that the land would be returned only if the company was adequately compensated for the lost investment it had made at Singur.