We'll return Singur land if state compensates us: Tata

In the first faint signs of rapprochement since Tata Motors withdrew its iconic Nano small project from West Bengal last year, Chairman Ratan Tata said he would return the land in Singur if the West Bengal government compensated the company for the investment it made at the site and was open to considering an alternative project there.

Addressing the media after his first meeting with West Bengal Commerce and Industry Minister Nirupam Sen since the Nano project pull-out, Tata said, “We left behind a fair amount of investment in the land in sheds, infrastructure, and so on, for which we would like to be compensated.”

Tata was speaking at a joint press conference with Sen here today.

On the issue of setting up another project on the land, he said, “Any project that helps the state, that makes sense to us, we will look at. Our intention is not to stand in the way of any development that may take place which happens to be on our land. We have no project ourselves, at this moment.”

Nirupam Sen explained that there was no concrete proposal for any project at Singur. “If the situation arises then we will discuss it and there will be an amicable settlement on those issues. Mr Tata has assured us that for the development of the state, Tata Motors will extend whatever help is necessary,” he said.

Though Ratan Tata did not specify the sunk costs at Singur, sources put it at Rs 500 crore.

Tata Motors has renewed the lease for the year and so have most of the vendors. The total land at Singur was 997 acres, of which the mother plant was spread over 650 acres and the vendor park accounted for 290 acres.

It was understood that Tata had also sought a meeting with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Earlier in the day, on the sidelines of the Tata Tea annual general meeting, Tata said he had sought appointments with two leaders for whom he had great respect.

Tata today also reiterated his commitment towards West Bengal, as he sought to clarify that the group was not aborting other projects in the state.

“I want to assure you that we are not moving out of West Bengal. We are here. We have had an unfortunate experience in Singur but our other projects are going on smoothly. Our cancer hospital will be inaugurated in March,” said Tata.

Close to a year ago, Tata Motors pulled out its Nano project from Singur after an indefinite protest led by Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, who is now railway minister. Banerjee’s main demand was return of “400 acres” to unwilling land-losers, though the state government puts the figure at 181 acres.

The railway minister recently said she had requested the central government to allow the railways to set up a wagon factory on the undisputed 600 acres.

Asked to comment on Banerjee’s proposal, Tata said, “But it’s not her land.”