Tata to return Singur land if compensated

Tata group chairman Ratan Tata on Tuesday virtually ruled out any investment in Singur and said the company would gladly return the land if compensated.

"Today, we have no plans to do anything in Singur. We went to Singur and invested to give jobs.. unless there is harmony, we won't consider going there," Tata said at the 10th Auto Expo.

Tata Motors had to shift its Rs 1-lakh car project Nano out of Singur in 2008 after violent protests by land owners. Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee at one point spearheaded the agitation.

He further said he is willing to return the land but only in lieu of compensation for the money Tata Motors has spent on the abandoned project.

"We wouldn't stand in the way for another usage of the land if we are compensated for what we are leaving behind…we still hold the lease of the land," Tata said on a query on vacating the Singur land.

Last month, a senior West Bengal government official said the state was about to start the formal process to get the Singur land back form the Tatas.

Tata Motors had to shift the Nano plant to near Ahmedabad at an investment of Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion).

Tata Motors abandoned the 997.11 acres in October last year, succumbing to protests by peasants led by state's principal opposition party Trinamool Congress who demanded return of 400 acres taken from "farmers unwilling to part with their land."

Image: Left Front supporters gather in support of the Tata car project at Singur.
Photographs: Parth Sanyal/Reuters