India's cheap car plant remains shut, Tata mulls plant's future
Sunday, 31 August 2008
SINGUR, India, Aug 30 (AFP): Protests against a factory being built in eastern India to make the world's cheapest car forced a halt to work for a second day today as vehicle giant Tata Motors mulled the plant's future.
"There has been no improvement in the ground situation so far, hence the conditions are still not conducive for resuming work today," Tata Motors said in a statement.
"We continue to assess the situation closely" at the plant in Singur in the Marxist-ruled West Bengal state, said the company making the 2,500-dollar compact car, billed as the world's cheapest.
The halt to work came a week after Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata conglomerate, warned he would move the plant from the state if the protests kept up at Singur, northwest of state capital Kolkata.
The company was expected to make a decision soon on the plant's fate.
Tata Motors has invested 350 million dollars in the controversial project.
The shutdown came after police had to escort hundreds of workers on Thursday from the factory when angry demonstrators blocked the exit.
Thousands of protesters shouted "Go back, go back," when some workers reported for work at the plant on Saturday.
The West Bengal government which had wooed the Tatas to set up the plant in the impoverished state to create jobs, has said the protesters will not be removed forcibly and the dispute will be settled through negotiations.
The protesters say poor farmers were forcibly evicted to make way for the factory and want the land returned.
West Bengal has been at the forefront of recent battles over land rights in India. The struggles have pitted the interests of farmers, who say they will starve without their land, against those of business and India's government, which say the country needs to industrialise rapidly.
Activists led by the powerful regional opposition Trinamool Congress have said they will only call off the protests if the government returns 400 acres (160 hectares) taken from farmers.
The government acquired 997 acres for the project but activists insist the project needs only 600 acres.
Tata hopes to start selling the snub-nosed car in October, rolling it out from other Tata plants, but analysts say the protests have put the target date under threat.
"There has been no improvement in the ground situation so far, hence the conditions are still not conducive for resuming work today," Tata Motors said in a statement.
"We continue to assess the situation closely" at the plant in Singur in the Marxist-ruled West Bengal state, said the company making the 2,500-dollar compact car, billed as the world's cheapest.
The halt to work came a week after Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata conglomerate, warned he would move the plant from the state if the protests kept up at Singur, northwest of state capital Kolkata.
The company was expected to make a decision soon on the plant's fate.
Tata Motors has invested 350 million dollars in the controversial project.
The shutdown came after police had to escort hundreds of workers on Thursday from the factory when angry demonstrators blocked the exit.
Thousands of protesters shouted "Go back, go back," when some workers reported for work at the plant on Saturday.
The West Bengal government which had wooed the Tatas to set up the plant in the impoverished state to create jobs, has said the protesters will not be removed forcibly and the dispute will be settled through negotiations.
The protesters say poor farmers were forcibly evicted to make way for the factory and want the land returned.
West Bengal has been at the forefront of recent battles over land rights in India. The struggles have pitted the interests of farmers, who say they will starve without their land, against those of business and India's government, which say the country needs to industrialise rapidly.
Activists led by the powerful regional opposition Trinamool Congress have said they will only call off the protests if the government returns 400 acres (160 hectares) taken from farmers.
The government acquired 997 acres for the project but activists insist the project needs only 600 acres.
Tata hopes to start selling the snub-nosed car in October, rolling it out from other Tata plants, but analysts say the protests have put the target date under threat.