Kolkata: West Bengal government on Tuesday agreed to Mamata Banerjee's proposal for setting up a rail coach factory at the abandoned site of Tata Motors in Singur and said it would talk to the Tatas for getting back the land once the Railway minister makes a formal announcement.
"The state government will talk to the Tatas (to get back
the land) after the Railways officially make the proposal,"
Chief secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty told reporters here.
Chakraborty said he had written a letter to Railway Board
Chairman S S Khurana yesterday in view of the proposal by the
Railway minister which was "widely reported in national
dailies" on November 30.
The chief secretary said the state government in
principle was in favour of handing over the entire 997.11 acre
land in Singur, acquired for Tatas small car project, to
Railways for setting up the coach manufacturing factory.
The Tatas had decided to shift their small car project
from Singur to Gujarat and the state government was now
exploring alternative use of the land for development of
industry, he said in his letter.
"Now that the Tata Motors Ltd has withdrawn, the state
government may advise WBIDC to initiate the process to get the
land back as soon as a firm decision was taken by the
Railways", he said.
The Chief Secretary noted that Singur, located 50 kms
from the city, has all necessary infrastructure for setting up
a large industry.
Banerjee had said that she was willing to set up the
factory as a joint venture with the West Bengal government if
the latter agreed. "In that case, the state government's
equity will be the land, while the Railway's equity will be by
way of setting up the factory," she had stated.
The state government's move to construct a mega power
plant in Singur jointly with the Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd
did not evoke positive response from the BHEL.
The Singur land was at present with the Tatas. Tata group
chairman Ratan Tata had earlier said he did not want to sit on
the Singur land and could give it back if the company was
compensated for the investment it had made on the ground.
When talks were on for putting up a power plant last
month, Industry minister Nirupam Sen had stated, "I don't
think there will be any problem to get back the land from the
Tata Motors Ltd."
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, December 08, 2009, 20:04