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| Ravi Kant, managing director of Tata Motors, told reporters here today that the state government had received consent letters for acquiring 950 acres of the total 997 acres of land required for the project. |
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| 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 skill sets. |
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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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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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 launch 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. |
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The company has also approached the NGOs and panchayats in Singur to provide training to locals at Ramakrishna Mission for developing technical skills in areas like carpentry, plumbing, electrician, simple fitting jobs, etc. If the need arises, key employees from Tata Motors plant can travel and impart training to the students to bring to focus the jobs required at an auto plant and how these tasks are carried out on a regular basis.
Pro-CPM farmers ask Mamata to withdraw fast |
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Pro-Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) farmers of Singur today asked Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to call off her fast against the acquisition of farm land for the Tata Motors' small car plant and not to oppose the project.
CPM politburo member Brinda Karat, who attended a rally organised by farmers under the banner of Krishak Samity, said: "Mamata is not fighting for the farmers, she is only politicising the issue." The farmers, who have given their land for the project, urged Banerjee in a letter to call off her nine-day-old fast.
The project will bring development to Singur and generate employment, said the farmers who held their rally at Rani Rashmani Road, a short distance from the site of Banerjee's fast.
Some 'bargadars' (registered share croppers) and small farmers said they had received compensation from the state government for their land displaying copies of their compensation cheques. (PTI) |
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