'Rly factory at Singur will serve no purpose'

Although the West Bengal government has failed to spell out exactly what it proposes to do with the 1,000-acre plot in Singur which was acquired to site the Tata Motors Nano car factory project, it is clear about one thing - that a railway coach factory on that land from which Tata Motors was forced to move out will not be permitted.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee who had spearheaded the anti-Tata Motors agitation, had announced last week that if the state government handed over 600 acres of the acquired land in Singur to the Railway Ministry, she would build a railway factory providing employment to thousands of local youth.

But CPI(M) leader in the Lok Sabha Basudeb Acharia told Business Standard his party and government want an automobile industry to come up on that land and not some rail factory:

"We want to make Bengal an automobile hub. Singur land will be used for a modern automobile industry. A railway factory will not serve any useful purpose."

Acharia is also a prominent member of the party's highest decision making body - the Central Committee.

Last Monday, Banerjee announced her ministry could set up a rail coach factory at Singur if the state agreed to make available to the Centre, 600 acres of the 1000-acre land acquired for Tata Motors. Banerjee also reiterated that the remaining 400 acres should be given back to farmers unwilling to part with their land. The Railway Minister's offer came exactly a year after she launched her agitation in Singur that eventually forced the Tatas to shift their project to Sanand in Gujarat.

Acharia, a former chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on railways, questioned the viability of another coach factory at Singur. "There is a new coach factory coming up at Rae Bareli. She has announced an EMU and MEMU factory in Halishahar in Bengal in her Budget. Her predecessor has announced another factory at Palghat in Kerala, where the state government will provide 1,000 acres of land free of cost to the Railways. The capacity of Integrated Coach Factory and the Railway Coach Factory is also being increased. So, how can another coach factory be viable?"

"If it is a locomotive factory she wants, there are doubts about that, too. There are already two locomotive factories under construction in Bihar - Chhapra and Madhepura. What will she do with a new one in Bengal? The person who drove the Tata factory out of Singur now wants to build another factory," Acharia quipped.

Banerjee said, she would build the project on a Public-Private-Partnership model. She made this offer for the state while inaugurating the Singur-Howrah Andolan (agitation) local. The railway ministry also intends to set up a project to market vegetable and fruit grown in Singur.

After the Tatas shifted its Nano factory to Gujarat, the state government had announced it would build an alternative automobile factory on the acquired land. A Chinese company had shown interest but the state government didn't find the offer inviting.

State's Industry Minister Nirupam Sen had indicated to Business Standard earlier that investors were keeping away from making new investments owing to the global recession. The Tatas, on the other hand, are yet to hand the land back to the state.