Tata sought 10 months to pack up from Singur

After deciding to withdraw the Nano project from Singur in West Bengal in October last year, Tata Motors had sought 10 months from West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) to remove the equipment.

“Tata Motors had written to WBIDC in November last year that it would require 10 months to remove the equipment in Singur,” said Subrata Gupta, managing director, WBIDC.

Tata Motors had abandoned the project at Singur following political opposition and subsequently shifted it to Sanand in Guajarat. Gupta said that the company, according to the Tata Motors communication to WBIDC, could take out the equipment till August 2009.

Meanwhile, he said that since the land was given on lease by WBIDC to Tata Motors, the company was required to pay the lease rental due on March 15 with a grace period of three months.

Initially, Tata Motors was supposed to pay an annual lease rent of Rs 1 crore.

If the company fails to pay the lease rental within the grace period, then it will attract interest payment. “This is all according to legal requirements and the process which WBIDC has set in motion,” Gupta said.

Asked whether paying the lease rental to WBIDC was a stamp of surity that Tata Motors was keen to retain the land at Singur Gupta said, “Here is no correlation between the two. In any case, they will have to pay the first lease rent since it falls within the 10-month period.”

The Singur plant was at an advanced stage of construction at the time of withdrawal of the project.

However, a recent statement by the West Bengal Industry Secretary Sabyasachi Sen had rekindled hope that Tata Motors was possibly not deserting Singur.

“The state has lost the chance of being the first production unit. However, there may a possibility if local objections are resolved through dialogue because ultimately Tata Motors may go for more than unit. But the decision rests with Tata Motors,” Sen had said.

Reacting to this, Tata Motors said it would discuss its plans for the leased plot with the state government, but declined to give further details.