A heartbroken Ratan Tata announced to pull out the ambitious Nano small car project from West Bengal’s Singur on a sunny afternoon just a couple of days before Durga Puja in 2008, holding Mamata Banerjee-led agitation against land acquisition for the project solely responsible for the tough decision.
At a press briefing five days after the announcement of Tata Motors’ exit from Bengal, Tata said, “It was an extremely painful decision, but there was no other option. There is also a great feeling that we are doing the right thing.” The world’s cheapest car project was shifted to Gujarat’s Sanand.
The Nano car was launched in 2009. Tata said the car was always meant for all people.
The legendary industrialist, who passed away on Wednesday, had several times narrated the bitter experience of Singur, the major speed breaker that his dream car project had to face.
The erstwhile Left Front government, led by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, had acquired nearly 1,000 acres of land in Singur, a multi-crop fertile agricultural region, in 2006 and handed it over to Tata Motors to build the proposed manufacturing facility for the project.
However, the process of acquiring land triggered widespread unrest as many farmers there refused to give up their land, fearing the loss of their livelihoods. Anti-land acquisition protests from a section of farmers gathered strength, and Mamata Banerjee, the then opposition leader and Trinamool Congress chief, led the movement against the “forcible” takeover of “fertile” land.
Banerjee, who became the Chief Minister of West Bengal after defeating the Left Front in the 2011 Assembly elections, last year claimed that she did not drive Tata Motors out of the state, but the CPI(M) did. Her remarks evoked a strong reaction from the opposition, particularly the CPI(M) leadership, which called Banerjee’s remarks “lies”.
Condoling the demise of Ratan Tata, Banerjee has said, “Saddened by the demise of Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus of the Tata Sons. The former Chairman of Tata Group had been a foremost leader of Indian industries and a public-spirited philanthropist.” “His demise will be an irreparable loss for Indian business world and society,” she wrote on X.
Notably, in October last year, Tata Motors said the company had won arbitration proceedings against the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) in relation to its claim of compensation for the loss of capital investments in the now-scrapped Tata Nano manufacturing facility at Singur. .
The auto major secured Rs 765.78 crore with interest as the arbitral award as compensation for its investment in the Singur plant. The company had been building the facility to manufacture the ambitious Tata Nano but was forced to scrap the project.
The West Bengal government has challenged the Arbitral Tribunal’s order, which is now sub judice.