Bengal nods Mamata proposal for Singur coach unit

The West Bengal government on Tuesday gave its consent to Union railway minister Mamata Banerjee's proposal for setting up a railway coach factory at the abandoned site of Tata Motors in Singur.

"On behalf of the state government, I had written to the Railway Board chairman yesterday giving consent to the railway minister's proposal," chief secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty told reporters at the state secretariat on Tuesday.

The chief secretary said he had also sought details of the project from the railway board chairman.

The state government's response came close on the heels of Banerjee's statement that the Railways was ready to set up a coach factory in Singur jointly with the state government or under a public-private partnership model.

The state government had earlier proposed to construct a mega power plant in Singur with Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, but BHEL had expressed its inability for the same. Though the Singur site was with the Tatas, its group chairman Ratan Tata had earlier said he did not want to sit on the land and could give it back if the company was compensated for the investment it had made.

When talks were on for putting up a power plant last month, Industry minister Nirupam Sen had stated, "I don't think there will be any problem to get back the land from the Tata Motors Ltd."