Sourav Ganguly and Gopalkrishna Gandhi

Calcutta, Oct. 2: Sourav Ganguly today wrote to Ratan Tata on the eve of his meeting with chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, urging the industrialist to manufacture the Nano in Bengal.

Urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya, believed to be close to the former Team India captain, confirmed that Ganguly wrote the letter.

“He (Ganguly) said Bengal is on the verge of making a turnaround. Therefore, if you leave now, the state’s economic interest will suffer,” Bhattacharya said.

If the Tatas stay in the state, a huge employment opportunity would be created and the youth of Bengal would benefit, Ganguly, a Tata Steel employee, is believed to have written.

Another public appeal also came, but not from the cricket field. CII mentor Tarun Das today issued a statement requesting Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and her colleagues to act in a responsible manner before “it’s too late (to keep the plant in Bengal)”.

“The situation in Singur is unfortunate and the solution to the present stand-off lies with Mamata Banerjee who is representing the agitators and protesters,” Das’s statement said.

He supported Tata’s stand that the mother plant and the ancillary units should stay as an integrated project and lashed out at “individuals offering ideas for implementation of the project who have no experience in developing an automobile manufacturing plant and no perspective on a unique product like the Nano”, billed the world’s cheapest car.

He gave the state government credit for its restraint in handling the siege at a time when workers at the plant were heckled.

He also praised the government’s initiative to come up with a new rehabilitation package, keeping in mind the landlosers’ demands.

“The position taken by the protesters led by Ms. (Mamata) Banerjee is threatening the project which has the potential to create thousands of jobs as also initiate re-industrialisation in the state.... I sincerely hope that Banerjee and her colleagues act in a responsible manner before it’s too late,” he said.

This is the second time Ganguly and Das have appealed in favour of industry in the past two months.

At Gandhi Ghat in Barrackpore, governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi said today: “I agree with what the Prime Minister has said. I think people of West Bengal desire and deserve a solution to the Singur impasse.”