Officials say state ready to roll out the red carpet, October launch possible.
A team of Tata Motors is arriving here tomorrow, leading to fresh speculation that Nano, the company’s small car, may roll out from the company’s plant in Pantnagar here. The master Nano plant in West Bengal is facing political opposition and indications are that it may be shifted.
The team, comprising some general managers of the company, will meet Chief Secretary IK Pande.
Although Nano is not on the official agenda of the meeting, official sources told Business Standard the issue was likely to figure during the talks. According to the agenda, Tata Motors executives would discuss issues related to lease-rent concession and demands like 100 acres of land for housing.
Significantly, the visit comes in the backdrop of Chief Minister BC Khanduri’s remark that the government was ready to provide all facilities to the auto major if it shifted its project to Pantnagar.
Sources said even if the company did not shift the mother plant to Pantnagar, it could still go for production of the world’s cheapest car through the assembly mode.
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“Vendors are ready to provide parts to Tata Motors. I think it should not have any problem in rolling out the car according to their October-December deadline,” said a top government official.
The company has so far neither submitted any plan for manufacturing the car to the State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Ltd (SIDCUL) nor sought any approval in this regard.
Nevertheless, the state government is optimistic about the possibility of Nano being manufactured from Pantnagar. In this regard, sources pointed out that the previous government gave 1,000 acres of prime agriculture land to the company hoping that it would produce the small car here.
As a gesture of goodwill, the chief secretary said, the government was ready to accept all Tata Motors’ demands, including related to the lease-rent concession. Pande also made it clear that the government would also provide 50-60 acres of land to the company for housing.