Calcutta, Aug. 25: Away from the charged atmosphere of Singur, another project announced by Ratan Tata in May 2006 along with the Nano is taking shape quietly.

Telco Construction Equipment Company Ltd (Telcon) plans to roll out excavators from its upcoming Kharagpur plant by June next year. The company has completed the acquisition of about 250 acres for the unit. The project will involve an investment of Rs 600 crore over the next three years, Telcon managing director Rana Sinha said on the sidelines of a CII event here today.

Along with the company, a Tata-Hitachi joint venture, 15 vendors will also set up ancillary plants close to the mother assembly unit.

The government has acquired 90 acres for the vendors, which include names such as Wipro and RK Forge. “There are no issues with our land. Work is going on peacefully,” Sinha said.

Over the next three years, Telcon plans to have different product lines here, including excavators, pay loaders and heavy-duty off-the-road trucks used in mines. The project is expected to give employment to over 1,000 people, including jobs offered by the vendors. Sinha said the company would start recruiting people from October from local technical institutes.

The company will send them to its existing plants for training. Telcon will provide direct employment to 500.

The project is running nine months behind schedule since the government took time to acquire the land.

Tata Motors unveiled both the small car and the earth moving equipment project together. The Nano project is also six months behind schedule after the site got flooded during last year’s monsoon. However, Trinamul Congress is a bigger threat now, throwing the planned schedule haywire.

In contrast, Telcon looks to be making steady progress. Sinha said the company had requested the state for 100 acres more to build an integrated township for its employees. “There are many more companies setting up plants in Kharagpur. Developing social infrastructure is of absolute necessity,” Sinha added.

Tata Metaliks unit

The Bengal government has issued a notification to acquire land for the much delayed steel billet plant of Tata Metaliks Ltd.

India’s largest pig iron manufacturer had sought 350 acres in Kharagpur, next to its existing plant. The state has acquired 200 acres, but the land is not contiguous. As a result, the company has not been able to start work. The investment for the project has been initially estimated at Rs 1,000 crore. The delay has prompted the Tata Steel subsidiary to consider setting up a similar facility in Karnataka.

The company has been allotted a prospecting licence for an iron ore mine, its first-ever captive resource, in Maharashtra. Harsh K. Jha, managing director of Tata Metaliks, said the mine would feed its Redi plant in that state.