Tata Motors today officially announced suspension of construction and commissioning of work at the Nano plant at Singur in view of continued confrontation and agitation at the site, adding that it was working on a detailed plan to relocate the plant and machinery to an alternate site.
A release issued by the company said, the company was evaluating alternate options for manufacturing the Nano car at other company facilities a detailed plan to relocate the plant and machinery to an alternate site was under preparation.
The decision came a day after Mamata Banerjee said Tata Motors was free to resume work at the site, and the Left Front offered a special rehabilitation package for displaced farmers who had not accepted compensation, indicating a speedy end to the protest movement.
West Bengal Industries Minister Nirupam Sen said in a telecast statement that the opposition parties appeared to have gone too far because Ratan Tata had warned that the project would be moved out of the state “if its people were not safe”.
“I would try my best to meet Tata Motors and persuade them to stay within the limitations imposed by the Opposition or perhaps with their co-operation”, said Sen.
Vendors had told Business Standard earlier in the day that they would resume work on September 3 and local contractors had said workers were safe and would return to work at the site from Wednesday.
This was the third project Tata Sons had abandoned in the eastern part of the sub-continent.
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It had received possession of thousands of acres in Gopalpur in Orissa but abandoned a steel plant there.
A couple of months ago, it abandoned its proposed $3 billion investments in Bangladesh.
Singur would be third project to be abandoned in the region.
To minimize the impact this would have on the recently recruited and trained people from West Bengal, Tata Motors said it was exploring the possibility of absorbing them at its other plant locations.
The decision was taken to ensure the safety of its employees and contract labour, who continued to be and violently obstructed from reporting to work.
The company came to the decision after five continuous days of cancellation of work. The project’s auto ancillary partners who had commenced work at their respective plants in Singur were also contrained to suspend work in line with Tata Motors’ decision.
However, the decision appears to be sudden since the ancillary units were planning to resume work tomorrow.
Around 60 key auto ancillary supplies to the Nano had taken possession of land in the integrated complex and invested around Rs 500 crore towards construction of their plants and procurement of their equipment and machinery.
Ratan Tata had said in Kolkata earlier that Tata Motors had already invested Rs 1,500 crore in the project.
Tata Motors claimed that there was a significant decline in the attendance of their staff and contractual labour since August 24.
“Some of the international consultants working on the plant have returned home and the construction work in the plant has been stalled since August 28, 2008. In fact, the existing environment of obstruction, intimidation and confrontation has begun to impact the ability of the company to convince several of its experienced managers to relocate and work in the plant. Further, several persons engaged in the construction and commissioning work who had taken accommodation at Singur and nearby areas have vacated and gone away due to intimidation and fear,” said the release.
As part of its commitment to enhance the employability of its people, Tata Motors has trained over 762 ITIs and other apprentices from the region and the state.
They had undergone retraining at the Tata Motors facilities in Jamshedpur and Pune.
Tata had highlighted the safety of employees, equipment and investments, and the viability of the project, Nirupam Sen added.
Tata had warned the group would not operate in an area if it was not welcome or as an “unwanted citizen”, Sen said.
Sen said Trinamool Congress had promised a “satyagraha” and non-violent protest but it had degenerated into intimidation which peaked when activists led by Anuradha Talwar detained Tata employees from leaving the factory till nearly midnight after they had finished their work at 5pm.