By IANS,
Kolkata : Ancillary industries scheduled to come up adjacent to the Tata Motors’ Nano plant in Singur stand to lose around Rs.5 billion (Rs.500 crore) that they have invested for the project, a source close to the development said.
“There are 56 ancillary units. The approximate investment in all those units will be around Rs.5 billion,” the source said.
These units stand to lose this investment if the auto major went along with its threat to move out of the state, following protests at the plant over land acquired for the project.
Tata Motors Tuesday said it was weighing options other than Singur to roll out Nano, the world’s cheapest car at Rs.100,000 ($2,500),
“In view of the current situation, the company is evaluating alternate options for manufacturing the Nano car at other company facilities and a detailed plan to relocate the plant and machinery to an alternate site is under preparation,” the auto major said in a statement.
Local farmers, led by West Bengal’s principal opposition party Trinamool Congress, have been laying an indefinite siege near the factory gate, located some 40 km from Kolkata, since Aug 24 demanding that the government return 400 acres taken ‘forcibly’ from farmers unwilling to part with their holdings.
Work remains suspended at the plant since last Friday.
Referring to this, Tata Motors said it had “been constrained to suspend the construction and commissioning work at the Nano Plant in Singur in view of continued confrontation and agitation at the site”.
It said the decision to stop work was taken in order to ensure the safety of its employees and contract labour.
A total of 997.11 acres was acquired for the Tata Motors small car project in Singur. Tata Motors is scheduled to roll out the world’s cheapest car from this factory in October.