Singur supports us, says Tata Motors

Firm plans training, employment opportunities for locals.

Stung by Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee's histrionics to drive its Rs 1-lakh car project out of West Bengal, Tata Motors today said the majority of people in Singur supported the project.

Tata Motors Managing Director Ravi Kant told reporters here today that the state government had received consent letters for acquiring 950 acre of the total 997 acres required for the project.

Farmers were also getting much more than the market price, depending on whether it is single- or double-crop land and a lot of local people would be employed in the plant depending on their skills. Besides, seventy of the company's vendors will be setting up ancillary units in Singur, leading to more commercial and employment opportunities. "We are known for doing business with a human face," Kant said, adding Singur wouldn't be an exception.

Kant cited the example of Uttaranchal where the company was the first to set up a huge plant. Land prices in the state had gone up 25 times in the last 10 months as a whole host of other automobile companies had followed suit and it's the farmers who gained from such opportunities, he said.

Kant refused to get drawn into the allegations levelled by Banerjee but said the company was willing to discuss the issues to address any concerns that people might have regarding the project.

To a question whether the Tatas had set a deadline by which the state government should hand over the land, Kant said the deadline was long over and the company was racing against time to meet the 2008 deadline.

"We are keeping everything else ready and hopefully the matter would be sorted out soon," he said. Quite a few other state governments have already approached the Tatas but as of now, the company was fully committed to Singur, he added.

The company has also approached NGOs and panchayats in Singur to provide training to locals at Ramakrishna Mission for developing technical skills in areas such as carpentry, plumbing, electrician, simple fitting jobs, etc.

If the need arises, key employees from Tata Motors plant can travel and impart training to students to bring to focus the jobs required at an auto plant and how these tasks are carried out on a regular basis.

Tata Motors has also proposed a weekly forum meeting where farmers meet company executives and clear doubts, and plans to replicate some of the programmes initiated in Pune and Jamshedpur for people in Singur.

As part of other initiatives to connect with the people, the company is organising special training programmes for women in areas such as tailoring, hand gloves making, garments, food products and handicrafts. Tata Motors also plans to introduce technical subjects in local secondary schools by providing infrastructure support, sports facilities, career guidance and a teachers' training programme.