Bengal to give Tatas land by Oct

The West Bengal government is working towards handing over the land to Tata Motors for the small car project by end of October, in the wake of the threat from Tata Motors on maintaining a timeline for the project.

State industry secretary Sabyasachi Sen said the state was trying its best to expedite the handover process.

Tata Motors managing director Ravi Kant said on Wednesday that the company might have to look at options other than West Bengal for its proposed Rs 1 lakh car project, if the land at Singur in West Bengal was not handed over by end of 2006.

Sen made it clear that the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC), which had formally acquired the land, would hand it over to Tata's much before the deadline set by Ravi Kant.

"We are trying to finish the process by third week of October. Once the Durga puja is over, we shall start the process of handing over the land at Singur to Tata Motors," he said.

He added that the district collectorate has written to WBIDC on Wednesday for taking possession of the land at Singur, which had been acquired by implementing the special land acquisition act. "The mutation will be done by second week of October," Sen said. According to Sen, after mutation, WBIDC would formally hand over the land.

The state government signed an MoU with Tata Motors for project in May 2006. Kant said on Wednesday that the company was working under a tight time schedule.

The prototype for the car was ready and the model was currently being tested. Some of the vendors had been finalised while others were yet to be tied.

The Rs 1 lakh car was scheduled to be launched by mid-2008. Kant said the company had options such as Uttaranchal for the project but chose West Bengal because it believed in the government.

Meanwhile, the state government managed to complete 40 per cent of the payment disbursement for the acquisition of land in Singur from its special payment camp at the block office.