[NiInJa]

It is enriching to read everything regarding the Singur plant now. I was in my college days when this all happened and not well versed with politics, specifically of UP and WB.
Thanks again !

Goes on to show how humans are the most dangerous creatures on earth !
Feel bad for the people who lost their land, hopefully good sense should prevail now.

[crdi]

On a similar note, I am reminded of a Malaysian engineer's suicide in kerala. A Malaysian company had undertaken widening/construction of a long strech of the main central road ( state highway connecting Ernakulam and Trivandrum, via Kottayam ). After construction of a large stretch, the company had approached the government for release of funds, which was promptly entangled in red-tapes and the infamous politician/babu nexus. The poor engineer from Malaysia, who was in charge of this project, buckled under pressure and took his life on a park bench. The road constructed by the company almost 10 years back, still remains as one of smoothest roads of kerala and that too despite any major maintenance work and with only miniscule number of pot holes forming only since the last 1or 2 years, even with major traffic and the usual climatic conditions of the state. Where as i have seen almost all new or resurfaced roads fall apart in a couple of years, if not months irrespective of traffic conditions. Those heading to Trivandrum after a visit to sabarimala would come across the said strech of road. How I wish that the same company or similar ones had constructed the major, if not all the roads of the state. And it is state where the ruling party changes/alternates every five years, with relatively stable governments for the five year term that they are elected for.

[tibby]

What happened at Singur is unfortunate & sad - for the land owners as well as the company that had to abandon its setup.
The root-cause of the entire issue seems to be the forcible acquisition of some portions of land, and the resultant raw deal meted out to the land owners.

While the then government has been punished for it misdeeds by the people (by overthrowing the party in the State Assembly Elections), the judiciary also needs to do its bit to ensure the wrongdoers are punished for ruining so many lives - some for eternity.

[saion666]

These pictures stand testimony to the fact that politics in India is a balancing act. The Left which came to power 34 years back riding on land reform politics forgot their roots and was on an industrialization spree(which though was the need of the hour) and the opposition latched on the opportunity riding on same LAND politics.

However, Singur was not an ideal site for a factory in a sensitive agro based economy. This land was fertile, the farmers were better off and it was blind eye or may I say unidirectional vision of the then CM(who still holds a lot of respect in Bengal) which led to this.

End result was Bengal losing 5 years of economic growth.(from the looks of things now, it may very well be 10). The farmers stood as collateral damage.


P.S:- My hands tremble with emotion while I type this.We were in the last year of engineering college when this happened and we know what Bengal missed out on because of this(and Nandigram).

[Maverick79]

Sad to see this state of the Factory where my personal blood and sweat were spent in making it close to a reality. Unfortunate

Back to 2008, We were very enthusiastic and eager to see our efforts turning in to reality and all of a sudden one fine day, some stones were hurled by the agitated crowd on our escorted convoy while coming to office.

My colleague to Head of the project(who was present at the situation): "Boss, Do we need to face this situation? What wrong did we do?"

That very minute, a direct call to Mr. Tata and the decision was taken to drop the project!

That's the importance Mr.Tata gave to the safety of people.
Hats off to him for his compassion towards his employees!

It would be really tough for any Business man to take the Loss of a project even before it's launch.

Feel lucky and proud to work with him for few years!

Regards,
Maverick79.

[ACM]

Yep TATA did the right thing in this instance, - Not necessarily what they do in all cases irrespective of the perception.
Yep this delay effectively killed the Nano,
Yep this was Politics and political parties at fault.
Yep the political party that was most in fault on this is the one that was brought into power next by the people.
Yep the farmers got a raw deal, were mislead and if they had waited it out would have seen prosperity in the region.
And Yep it was Gujarat that gained by making a better offer finally but the country lost out.

[nowwhat?]

With my limited knowledge of W. Bengal's political history, I think the people of W. Bengal have no one to blame but themselves. After decades of wallowing in stagnation after driving out almost all industries there (Don't forget that W. Bengal was one of the most industrialized states in the country during independence so much so that E. Pakistan could not process any of its jute), they finally got a CM who decided to go the Chinese way and industrialize the state thereby moving towards capitalism. Tata Motors' plant in Singur was supposed to be the crowning glory heralding this new direction. Instead, Didi was more Marxist than the CPI(M) and the people voted strongly to stay with Marxism. What's there to cry about?

Originally Posted by peterjim13

This explains why nobody is interested in setting up factories in Kerala.

Over the past 5 years or so, there has been development in Kerala in exempt industries such as software and other service industries where you can't have trade unions. Lots of NRIs are making massive investments, but sadly there are still too many systemic faults that will dissuade any intelligent businessman from setting up a factory there.

Some of the incidents I remember of Kerala from my younger years are:

• TCS setting up an office in Ernakulam in the early 90s. The construction workers who were laying the foundation went on strike demanding that one child from each of their families must be given a job in TCS. TCS packed up and left.
• My father asking his brother who knew how to climb coconut trees to drop some coconuts. The next day the local union came in large numbers and protested outside our house. Turns out that unless you drop the coconuts yourself, you can only hire union labor to do it.
• The Apollo factory which used to be on strike for most of the year. Apollo at that time had only two factories and their quarterly results would see-saw from profit to loss due to the lock-out at their Chalakudy factory. Apollo never left because they sold their tires at inflated prices to KSRTC.
• Hartals and bandhs which were so frequent that people didn't even know or bother to ask what it was for.

[jkdas]

I think this video shows how they did the mega relocation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skP5oNPGsdU

nowwhat- hope they didn't ask the same for the Tvm TCS site

[redcruiser]

Everyone has given all views targeting the political parties here. Out of curiosity what Tata Motors or any such companies should have done to avoid such issues? As this(farmers agitation) happens most of the time in India, didn't they account for it? Were they missing some kind of plan-B ?

Originally Posted by Maverick79

That very minute, a direct call to Mr. Tata and the decision was taken to drop the project!

I very well understand that Mr. Tata is a man of ethics. But didn't Tata Motors fail to analyse the risk before taking the word from the then government at face value.

[Majumdarda]

I would not go to the political aspect of all this as I consider myself ignorant in that field. But below is the extract which I got from the link :-

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/4VO...-West-Ben.html

Mamata Banerjee says to revive car manufacturing in West Bengal

In her first address to the business community after winning the assembly election, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday that her government will revive car manufacturing in the state, signalling a change in priorities for her second term in office.

With an eye on West Bengal’s outstanding debt of a little over Rs.3 trillion, she urged entrepreneurs to start investing in the state — without, she added, giving excuses for delaying investment decisions.

Banerjee’s promise to revive car manufacturing is ironic — it was her unyielding opposition to land acquisition that forced Tata Motors Ltd to move its planned car factory from Singur in West Bengal to Sanand in Gujarat in 2008.

The only other automobile factory in West Bengal, Hindustan Motors Ltd, has since suspended operations, bringing the curtains down on its antiquated Ambassador car that used to be manufactured at Uttarpara near Kolkata.

“She appealed to the industry to take some risks,” said Harshvardhan Neotia, president of lobby group Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, or Ficci.

“She is conscious of the need to shore up state revenues to meet the debt repayment obligations, and accelerated economic development is the best solution,” he added.

Banerjee clearly is trying to turn the clock back as she struggles to create jobs and revive the state’s ailing economy.

In stark contrast five years ago, the first decision she took after coming to power was to pass a law to oust Tata Motors from its abandoned factory in Singur by seizing it, ending any possibility of a rapprochement.

The legal dispute between Tata Motors and the West Bengal government has since reached the Supreme Court with both sides holding their grounds.

Banerjee has maintained that Tata Motors is welcome to build its factory on 700 acres, while the carmaker has said it isn’t possible to scale down the manufacturing facility from 997 acres.

“In her bid to create jobs, she is trying to put industry on the front burner,” said another Kolkata-based industrialist. “But building confidence will take time.”

To be sure, Banerjee has always maintained she isn’t opposed to industry, but “the predominant perception is different”, this person added, asking not to be named.

“West Bengal must promote itself more aggressively,” said Ambarish Dasgupta, head of management consulting at professional services firm KPMG. “There is a need to connect with the wider world.”

Alongside, Banerjee said her government is looking to sell its stake in joint sector housing developers to private partners.

Two years ago, the state had engaged consulting firm EY and law firm Fox and Mandal to review the operations of nine joint sector real estate firms. The aim was to sell the government’s stake in these companies, and negotiate the sale from a position of strength.

Though the firms submitted their report, the initiative fizzled out — the state never got into negotiation with its partners, according to real estate developers.

“Every penny matters, but it is unlikely that the state will earn anything significant from the sale of its stake in these companies,” said a leading realtor, asking not to be named.

The state owns 50% in these companies and used to provide land to build homes. The initiative to build affordable homes under public-private partnership started in the mid-1990s. But joint sector real estate development was halted after Banerjee came to power in 2011 because the state stopped giving land to these firms.

There are only a few joint sector projects which are under execution or in the pipeline, said another real estate developer, who too asked not to be named. “If at all, the state could make money only from those joint sector companies that still have projects under execution,” this person added.

For the rest, the valuation will be based only on retained earnings, which are normally invested in assets. Some of them may not be suitable for development; so, determining a fair value will be difficult, real estate developers said.

I have pasted the entire news for experts to advise. My only wish being a bong would be to see some developments at WB too. Better late than Never if it happens at all.

[planet_rocker]

Update: Singur Tata plant: SC strikes down land acquisition, orders govt to return land in 12 weeks

The Supreme Court Wednesday quashed the land acquisition in West Bengal’s Singur by the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya-led CPM government in 2006 for allotting it to Tata to set up its Nano car factory. The court held that the acquisition could not be said to be for a “public purpose” and hence the land should be remitted back to farmers within 12 weeks.
Farmers who got compensation from the govt will not return it because they were deprived of their livelihood for the last ten years, the court said.
The court order signifies a major victory for Mamta Banerjee and the TMC, which had led the protest against allocation of land for the Tata factory.
While setting aside the Calcutta High Court order of upholding the acquisition process, the Supreme Court bench ruled that the acquisition was bad in law on several grounds and that acquiring the land from the farmers for giving it to a company for a car plant could not come under the ambit of “public purpose”.
Tata Motors moved the Calcutta High Court challenging the law. The acquisition of the land was upheld by a trial court and the law passed by the Trinamool Congress-led state government was declared unconstitutional on appeal.
In the wake of the controversy, Tata had in 2008 began its process of shifting its Nano factory to Gujarat and the car is now manufactured in Sanand in Gujarat.

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/ind...nment-3005867/

[Samratrek]

Unlike other Indian states,the soil fertility index of Bengal is highest, Singur is in the Burdwan district which is also called the rice bowl district of India,it can feed the entire India with the quantity of rice it produces & also West Bengal does not have any instance of farmer suicides.West Bengal farmers does not need any help from Industrialists of desert states & even in the other arid states industrialization helps only to create a higher rich poor divide,which is marked by so much farmer suicides in Maharashtra / Gujarat /Tamil Nadu /Andhra.This is the very ethos behind the local people who do not want something which is less than what they already have by virtue of Bengal's geographic location which had given them enough rainfall & fertility.So the people of Bengal do not require a desert nomad to talk about prosperity from industrialization.Soil fertility is the index of the region's prosperity, rightly for ages called Sonar Bangla due to agrarian economy & not industrial output.A recent world bank report also gives Bengal the 11th top position in ease of doing business,so what essentially that Bengal needs more agrarian development & industrialization in waste or arid lands & not in fertile areas.

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by Samratrek

Unlike other Indian states,the soil fertility index of Bengal is highest, Singur is in the Burdwan district which is also called the rice bowl district of India,it can feed the entire India with the quantity of rice it produces & also West Bengal does not have any instance of farmer suicides.West Bengal farmers does not need any help from Industrialists of desert states & even in the other arid states industrialization helps only to create a higher rich poor divide,which is marked by so much farmer suicides in Maharashtra / Gujarat /Tamil Nadu /Andhra.This is the very ethos behind the local people who do not want something which is less than what they already have by virtue of Bengal's geographic location which had given them enough rainfall & fertility.So the people of Bengal do not require a desert nomad to talk about prosperity from industrialization.Soil fertility is the index of the region's prosperity, rightly for ages called Sonar Bangla due to agrarian economy & not industrial output.A recent world bank report also gives Bengal the 11th top position in ease of doing business,so what essentially that Bengal needs more agrarian development & industrialization in waste or arid lands & not in fertile areas.

How can areas be classified as waste land/arid land or fertile land capable of bearing crops? Seeds like Japotra (bio diesel base) can grow on the most inhospitable waste land as well. Also a classification needs to be done with people's mandate otherwise similar agitation will arise sooner than later.
Unless the seeds of communism and naxalism are eliminated from Bengal, it can never be a state where a sensible business house would want to go to. Which is an irony since most of the learned, scholars and economists hail from that state. About the current CM, the less we speak about that opportunistic clown the better.

[blackasta]

I personally am disappointed at the verdict. But it's the Supreme court. Guess this decision is final. No TATA due to land agitation, no Infy due to questionable 'No SEZ' stance.

To most of the queries, concerns, critics and remarks in this thread, I have a few points of my own:

1. Most of the land in Bengal is quite fertile, atleast to bear crops in 1 season if not 2 and 3.

2. That poses the question and concern of finding a big patch of concurrent land to set up heavy industries.

3. The heavy industries that were present in the yesteryears were on the fringes of the city and by the river (barrackpore, naihati etc). A lot of those places have closed down due to agitation or unprofitability. Mostly paper mills, jute mills and ironworks. But rapid urbanization means that these closed down sheds now belong inside the city where heavy industry cannot be set up once again. Also a problem of litigation is present.

4. In places where the land is arid (very few areas), there is a problem of accessibility and infrastructure. The land in Singur was chosen as it had a river on one side and a NH on the other.

5. Due to operation barga, there are very few big land owners in Bengal. most land is divided into small parcels and are directly held by the farmers who work on it. I believe this was one of the good works of the earlier govt which boomeranged on them when they had to deal with thousands of owners for a 997 acre piece of land.

6. The unwilling farmers collectively held only 40 acres land, but they were spread across the plot like inkblots on a sheet when you shake a fountain pen.

7. The very nature of the land has been changed so much (huge factory sheds, concrete floors, ditches filled with fly ash, roads built, canals cut), that many experts and farmers believe that it is no longer possible to till the land.

8. Supreme court has ordered land to be returned to farmers. That means every one gets back his exact own piece of land. According to land and revenue officials this is a herculean task as in villages, farmland is segregated from each other via earth dykes or 'aals'. Their very existence has been removed when the character of the land was changed.

9. I predict intense political game , backdoor bribing and litigation to start once the returning of the farmland starts.

[redcruiser]

I could not find out from the verdict if TATA or the Govt would get back the money they invested in paying compensation to the farmers. I guess that is remotely impossible.