Mamata in Singur. (Pradip Sanyal)

Calcutta, Sept. 16: The Centre has advised the Tatas to “hang on” in Singur, pointing out that a pullout could encourage opponents of big projects elsewhere and hurt the industrialisation programme country-wide, sources in Delhi have told The Telegraph.

The Centre suggested the Tatas hold their patience till the state government wore down the Trinamul Congress’s hostility to their project, and then resume work at the complex, they added.

Senior Tata executives apparently met Union ministers and Prime Minister’s Office bureaucrats a few days ago. “The Prime Minister’s sentiments were conveyed to the Tatas and they were advised to hang on,” a senior Union minister from the Congress said.

He added that Delhi had been working behind the scenes to try and end the standoff at the request of political parties, the Bengal government and governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

Tata Motors has indicated to the state government it would examine this week the matter of resumption of work, sources here said. However, industries secretary Sabyasachi Sen said: “We haven’t heard from them yet.”

Tata Motors had on Sunday welcomed chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s latest initiative of offering a new rehabilitation package to Singur farmers.

To take advantage of the upbeat mood in Singur after the package was announced on Friday, the government will send to the Hooghly district magistrate a sum of Rs 22 crore that will meet the additional cost of the package.

“From the way Mamata Banerjee is keeping the door open for negotiations, I believe the Nano will soon be happening in Bengal,” said state Congress working president Subrata Mukherjee, who made a surprise appearance at Mamata’s Singur rally today.

Key Trinamul players kept in touch with CPM ministers and Left Front partners through the day, trying to assess how much more land the government might be ready to return from within the complex to accommodate Mamata.

At Singur, Mamata said: “Our doors are still open for discussion. But 300 acres must be provided from within the project area and 100 acres from the adjacent area.”

Her rally, an answer to yesterday’s Left Front meeting at Singur, was held 100 metres from the Nano site. The rallyists and their vehicles blocked both flanks of Durgapur Expressway for over four hours from 1pm.