Tata to move plant from India's West Bengal if protests persist

Tata to move plant from India's West Bengal if protests persist New Delhi - Tata Motors said Friday it would move its low cost Nano car project out of India's communist-ruled eastern West Bengal state if violent protests over the plant persisted.

The move would come at a great cost to the company, its shareholders and the state, Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata said at a televised media briefing at the state capital Kolkata.

India's leading vehicle maker has invested over 375 million dollars in the plant located in Singur, about 40 kilometres from Kolkata. The first Nano cars, dubbed the world's cheapest car, were scheduled to roll out in October.

But a group of farmers in Singur have been protesting against the Tata plant and claim some farmland for the plant was forcibly acquired by the government and given to the company.

The West Bengal government is currently in talks with the opposition Trinamool Congress, which announced indefinite protests around the plant starting Sunday unless 400 acres of land are returned to the farmers.

Tata said his company legally acquired 997 acres of land for the project and stressed its sensitivity to the needs of the farming and rural community.

The group would not run a factory where it was not wanted, Tata said, adding: "Tension and violence is obviously not conducive."

He said there was concern over the safety of employees at the factory where they were being beaten up, material stolen and boundary walls routinely broken.

"We can't operate a plant with police protection. If that is the way it is before we start, then what would happen when we operate?" Tata asked.

"If anybody is under the impression that since we have made the investment, we will not move - then we will move to protect our people," Tata said.

A prototype of the Nano was unveiled with much fanfare at the auto exposition in Delhi in January. It is a 623-cc car with a 33-horsepower multipoint fuel injection petrol engine. (dpa)

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