Ratan Tata checks samples of wood panels that are being used in the cancer hospital project during his visit to the site in Rajarhat on Friday. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Singur may have left Ratan Tata grim but the look of the Tata Medical Centre coming up in Rajarhat brought a smile to his face on Friday.

Hours after threatening to take the Nano project out of Bengal if the politics surrounding the site in Singur continued and the atmosphere there remained hostile, Tata seemed to draw comfort from the pace at which work on the medical centre has been progressing after some hiccups.

The 120-crore cancer care and research institution was to be operational by the first quarter of this year, but labour problems and cost escalations have delayed the project’s completion by at least a year.

“It was not a symbolic visit only. He enquired how long the project would take to complete. He asked where sections like the research and development wing and the inpatient and outpatient services would be located. He checked samples of the various construction materials that are being used. He left the site satisfied with the work,” said a senior engineer after emerging from a 20-minute discussion with his boss at the site office.

Tata arrived at the 11-acre site in a convoy of 13 cars around 4.15pm, after attending the annual general meeting of Tata Tea and addressing a news conference where he declared that Tata Motors would not hesitate to pull out of the state. He said there was no point in carrying on despite the huge investment made so far if workers were unsure of their security.

Dressed in a crisp white shirt and light brown trousers, topped by a helmet, Tata inspected construction at the site of the medical project for 15 minutes. The survey over, he went inside the site office for a chat with his team.

Engineers said the hospital would probably be ready only after the first quarter of next year. “The project cost has gone up by at least 40 per cent,” one of them said.

The architecture of the hospital, meant to be an intensive care centre for cancer patients, is by the world-renowned American firm Cannon Design. It will be the second Tata cancer-care facility after the Tata Memorial Cancer Research Institute in Mumbai.

The hospital will have 150 beds as well as an outpatient facility.

Before leaving for the airport, the Tata Group chairman had a surprise visitor in Trinamul Congress MLA Sadhan Pande, whose leader Mamata Banerjee is spearheading the Singur resistance. He brought along two packets of sweets, which Tata accepted with a “Oh, thank you.”

“I was here for the foundation-laying ceremony of the hospital. I am glad that such a project is coming up in Bengal. I am glad Tata has kept his commitment,” Pande said.