24 August : Tata Motors on Saturday received open offers from a couple of states and hints from another to move its plant to manufacture the world’s cheapest car Nano to their region, a day after Ratan Tata’s threat to quit West Bengal.
Maharashtra, Punjab and Orissa invited Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata to consider moving the plant to their states.On the other side West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee asserted that Tata Motors small car plant at Singur will be a reality.
"It is for the individual industrialists to decide where they want to set up their industry," Mukherjee, also External Affairs Minister, said on Saturday when asked about the threat of Ratan Tata to pull out of Singur if the situation did not normalise there.
Congress on Friday criticised the Left Front Government in West Bengal for the controversy over the Nano car project alleging that farmers have not been given adequate compensation during acquisition of the land.
Accusing the state government of not taking the farmers into confidence over their various demands, a party spokesman also justified the Trinamool Congress agitation over the project.
Security tightened around Tata plant site.
Two thousand policemen and Rapid Action Force (RAF) have been deployed during Trinamool Congress’ indefinite dharna at Singur, the Tata Motors’ small car plant site, from Sunday.
”We hope the agitation will remain peaceful as the local leaders have assured verbally that they will not resort to violence,” West Bengal Home Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty said in Kolkata on Saturday.
Asked what would happen if the agitators tried to break the boundary wall of the car plant, he said "we believe that the local leaders will keep their word that nobody will indulge in violence."
An official source said all the entry points to the plant have been sealed as a precautionary measure.The Trinamool-backed Krishi "Jami, Jiban O Jibika Raksha Committee" (Save Farmland Forum) would be on dharna demanding return of 400 acres to farmers who were allegedly unwilling to part with their land. DDINEWS