One lakh car from Singur, reaffirms Tata

Despite controversies, Tata Motors says that the forthcoming car for the masses would be built in Singur.

BY OUR AUTO CORRESPONDENT
November 28, 2006

If Tata Motors makes its small car, it will be in Singur. The company has rubbished speculations that it is planning to shift the small-car project outside West Bengal . 

The company has come out with the statement that it isn’t going anywhere from controversial Singur just a day prior to the Mamta Banerjee-spearheaded Trinamul Congress planning a mass agitation against the project. 

With land for the project to be handed over in a few weeks’ time weeks, the project is all set to roll. The current statement attains significance as the company had a few days ago said that it would have to relocate if land acquisition wasn’t completed soon. 

With the government having received consent letters for 927 acres, which translates into over 90 per cent of the 997-acre plot that was identified for the plant, the acquisition is becoming easier. The company had initially asked for land by November, but the government had bought time till the paddy harvesting season. 


If all goes well from now on, Tata expects to roll out its first Rs 1-lakh car in 2008. The work on the project is expected to begin the moment the government hands over land. The designs of the Rs 1-lakh car is already being tested at Tatas’ Pune facility. Orders for plant and machinery have been placed and half of the 60-80 vendors have been selected, reports quoting a Tata officials said.