Devadeep Purohit of The Telegraph took a close look inside the Tata Motors complex in Singur on Monday, the first working day since the Trinamul siege began.

For a Monday afternoon, it’s unusually quiet at the sprawling Nano plant.

The stretch before the giant press-shop shed, where steel plates are beaten into car doors and other parts, is almost deserted weeks ahead of the rollout deadline.

Four men in white shirts, blue trousers and white helmets, with “Tata Motors” embossed on them, are chatting in a leisurely manner. One of them, in his early 30s, seems a little embarrassed as he explains the situation.

“You see, on a normal working day, even walking along this stretch is a problem, there are so many people around. But look, there is no one today,” he says.

Just over a third of the 3,500-plus workforce has reported for work on the first working day of Mamata Banerjee’s indefinite siege of the plant.

It’s 4.30pm. Most of the shutters are down at the engine shop and paint shop, sheds where the various stages of manufacturing are done before the engine is finally fitted into the painted chassis.

The area outside is not completely empty, though — huge containers of equipment and machinery are strewn all around. The aluminium sheets, iron beams and giant exhaust fans inside the boxes are to be fitted in the paint shop.

Hundreds of payloaders, earthmovers and cranes lie idle.

Outside, however, the decibel has shot up a few levels. On Day Two of her dharna, called to press for the return of 400 acres to “unwilling” landlosers, Mamata has sharpened her attack on the state government and the Tatas.

“No one was stopped from entering the plant, though. The workers probably stayed away out of fear,” a police officer said.

Admitting the loss of crucial man-hours ahead of the October rollout deadline, a Tata Motors spokesperson said: “The attendance of our employees was good and bare minimum work took place inside the plant.”

Sources explained that over 80 per cent of the 990-odd Tata Motors employees were brought in on 25 buses with police escort, but about 80 per cent of the 2,500-odd workers of the various contractors stayed away. “The company executives did some work at the effluent treatment plant, LPG yard and training centre, but no construction took place,” a source said.

Some signs of activity could be detected at the press shop, ringed by tight security. “You can spot the Nano chassis inside this shed,” a factory insider said. But breaching the multi-layer cordon of over 1,300 police and 450 private guards proved a tall order even on an idle day.

The employees, however, moved freely about the sprawling campus, still dotted with lush green stretches and water bodies.

“We are welders, but there hasn’t been any work for us since Saturday night. So we’re just strolling around,” a contract worker said near gate II of the vendor park, earmarked for the ancillary units.

The group of three had ventured out of the hutment on the premises and was heading towards the disputed 400 acres. All the units — Caparo Engineering, Rico Engineering, Sona Koyo Steering Systems — along the metalled road were shut. Cattle from nearby Beraberi and Ghosh Para grazed on the patches of green.

“The work schedule for almost all departments suffered today. We don’t know how long this will continue,” a Tata Motors employee said.

At one corner of the project site, though, it was business as usual. The Shashan Kali temple was open.

“We performed puja like any other day. People came to offer prayers,” said Biswanath Brahmachari, the priest.