Tatas leave Singur behind, assure Mamata Banerjee of expansion of existing projects

Leaving the ghost of Singur behind, various companies of the Tata Group today said they would expand many of their existing projects in the state. Senior executives of the Tata group companies today held a meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and informed her about their plan to expand existing projects.

Asked about the 'bitter experience' of shifting of the Tata Nano car plant from Singur in 2008, Rana Sinha, one of the executives, said, "Forget the issue of the past and target the future."

In September 2008 during the previous Left Front regime, the Tatas left Singur in West Bengal and set up Tata Nano car plant at Sanand in Gujarat following an agitation by the then opposition Trinamool Congress' leader Mamata Banerjee over 'forceful' acquisition of land in the area. A case regarding this is now pending in the Supreme Court.

Singur issue was not in the agenda of the meeting, Tata Steel Processing and Distribution Ltd MD Sandipan Chakraborty said.
Chakraborty said Banerjee asked them if they were facing any problem and how the state government could assist them to overcome them. "Such an interaction with the CM is unprecedented. The meeting was positive, optimistic and fruitful," Chakraborty, former MD of Tata Ryerson, said.

After the 90-minute long meeting, state Finance and Industry Minister Amit Mitra told reporters that Tata Group was keen on expanding many of their existing projects in the state creating more employment opportunities.

Five companies of the Tata Group have told the chief minister about their plan to invest and expand in existing projects, said Mitra who was also present at the meeting. The Tata Group have offered employment to nearly 30,000 people in the state under various projects and they would offer more employment in near future, Mitra added.

Tatas were represented in the meeting by executives of Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery, Tata Metaliks, metaljunction and TM International Logistics (TMILL). Though no Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) executive was present at the meeting, Mitra said TCS CEO and MD N Chandrasekaran wrote to him about its expansion plan.

Under TCS' new project at the 40 acres of land given at Rajarhat New Town, the company would create an employment opportunity for 20,000 people, Mitra said. 

Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery MD Rana Sinha said their unit in Kharagpur, which have already brought in several Japanese ancillaries, would further bring in more such units to create more employment opportunity. Tata Metaliks MD Sanjiv Paul also said his company was all set to invest Rs 1500 crore creating employment opportunity for about 2,500 people.

metaljunction MD & CEO Viresh Oberoi, also the Chairman of the CII Eastern Region, said how his company chalked out its expansion plan. On behalf of the CII, he also raised several issues before the CM seeking her help to overcome some problems.

An executive representing TMILL also spoke about his company's interest about the proposed deep sea port in the state.