Tata, Sen

Calcutta, Aug. 21: A “worried” Ratan Tata has no intention to pull out of Singur “until and unless forced to do so”, the Bengal government said tonight in the first public admission that the car project is not as foregone as was being made out.

“Actually, he is quite worried about the developments in Singur. He did not anticipate this kind of thing to happen for such a project,” industries minister Nirupam Sen said tonight after meeting Ratan Tata at a city hotel.

Asked whether there was any possibility of the Tatas withdrawing from the Singur project, Sen said: “He has made a lot of investment and it is not his intention to pull out until and unless he is forced to do so by circumstances.”

The comments attributed to Tata are certain to winch up pressure on Mamata, who has been trying hard to shed the tag of “anti-industry”.

Tata has said the fate of the project will ultimately be decided by the people of Bengal. “Tata thought that the small car project will be beneficial to the people of Bengal and that it will be welcomed by all,” the minister said.

The dramatic late-evening meeting took place on the eve of the Tata Tea annual general meeting — the official purpose behind Tata’s visit to the city — and on a day Mamata announced that she would go ahead with the siege of Singur from Sunday.

“We have told Tata that as far as discussions with the Trinamul Congress are concerned, they have assured us that there would be no lawlessness… there will be peaceful demonstration,” Sen said, indirectly putting the onus on the Opposition party to ensure the protest does not spin out of control — a possibility when charged crowds assemble.

Sen, who was accompanied by industries secretary Sabysachi Sen, said Tata expressed “anxiety” over what would happen on August 24. “I hope all parties, even those who are opposing us, will think before any kind of action so that the project can go through peacefully,” the minister said.

He declined to say if the government discussed any compromise formula with Tata.

Tata landed in the city at 6.25pm and reached the hotel after an hour or so. Sen called on Tata a little after 9pm and the talks lasted one and a half hours.

Trinamul has demanded the return of 400 acres meant for vendors to “unwilling farmers”, saying the car plant needed only “600-650 acres”.

The Tatas have clarified in a letter to the government today that the entire project needed 1,000 acres as the ancillary units were an integral part of the small-car project.

Trinamul sources said late tonight that Mamata wanted to meet Tata but the state government was preventing the industrialist from holding talks with her.

The party sources said the situation could be defused even now if the government made a public admission that land was acquired “forcibly”.

In return for such an acknowledgement, the Trinamul leadership will scale down the size of “the land to be returned” to “250 or 200” acres from 400, the sources said. According to government figures, the number of acres belonging to “unwilling farmers” stands at 167.

An official at the chief minister’s secretariat said the government and Trinamul might hold a second meeting in the next few days, after Mamata’s representatives met chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Sen at Writers’ Buildings yesterday.

“I can’t say whether the second meeting will be held tomorrow or the day after, but it may take place,’’ the official said. Asked about this, the Trinamul chief merely said: “Our door is open for positive dialogue.”