[Rajeevraj]

Came across this article and pictures of the abandoned Tata Factory at Singur. Tata Motors had acquired land at Singur for setting up a plant for production of Tata Nano. Almost 1000 acres of land was taken for this factory. This was opposed by locals and activists and then lead to a major agitation lead by Trinamool Congress. As a result of this on 23rd September 2008, Ratan Tata declared that the entire Nano factory was being moved out of Singur.

It has been 8 years since this decision. Even today the land and infrastructure lies in total abandonment. It stands as a reminder of the huge wastage of land as well as Infrastructure. The farmers have not got the land back and the infrastructure built was also not put to any use. According to Rabindranath Bhattacharya, MLA and Trinamool leader, who was at the helm of the Singur movement, the matter is still pending in the court. He says if a third party out-of-court settlement could be arrived at, things will get sorted. But he adds that someone has to take the initiative to act as the third party between industrialists and the state.

Sources:
Quint

[srishiva]

What was the agitation for if the land was not returned to farmers? Hopefully, they will either auction the facility to someone to put it for use or dismantle it and return the land.

Also, not sure why the farmers who lost their land not agitating now? As with most agitations, the ones who do are really not the ones affected but the ones who stand to gain with something else.

[Amit_breakfree]

If operations and manufacturing would have started in this plant, it would have been beneficial for a number of stakeholders - farmers would have received the price of the land or they could have got alternate employment in the plant, the economy and image of the state would have been improved with such a huge investment by one of the largest corporate houses in India, ancillary and associated industries would have created further employment in the region and even TATA would have been able to launch Nano a bit earlier than they were able to do it after shifting their plant to Gujarat.

And what's the situation now, the farmers haven't received their land back and they can't go back to farming, TATA's investment in setting up the infrastructure has been completely wasted, and there has been no economic development of the region.

And the reason behind this is vote politics. Development should not be at the cost of farmers plight but it should also not be a hindrance in overall economic development.

[humyum]

What a waste of land/resources, not to mention lives being spoiled. To me looks like all the parties involved were at a loss here.

PS: Looks like a brilliant place to do a cars/prewedding/people photoshoot, can this be accessed or is it guarded ?

[Enobarbus]

It is sad to see that no one gained from this episode, least of all the farmers. I read somewhere that the shifting of the Nano factory was one of the largest such shifting operations in the world. I also read that the total cost to Tatas was in excess of 200 crores.

If this is true then this must be the single biggest reason for Nano's failure. Firstly this caused a big delay in the launch and it gave time to the competition to bad mouth the Nano. Secondly, If Tata had those 200 crores, they could have maintained the one lakh price tag for much longer, giving the Nano much better sales numbers.

A lot had been said about how the cheap car image had caused the failure of the Nano. In the end it was not so cheap as many people thought. The cost had to be increased and it crossed the one lakh threshold rather quickly. This is the other most important reason for its failure and it was not so well discussed. The cheap car image surely put off many prospective buyers, but I believe that if the one lakh price was maintained for longer, there would have been much better numbers for the Nano.

[blackasta]

It was only politics that drove away TATA from Singur.
First the agitators stated that there were unwilling farmers for 400 acres of land. In the latest court hearing, no one could even furnish a list of unwilling farmers.
Then the new govt made a faulty law to return the land to farmers which was challenged in court and is being dragged.
Also - does anybody have any idea what the farmers will do even if they get their parcel of land back? the land has been filled, flattened, built on and the nature of the land has changed. Can you farm on a concrete floor?
If TATA factory would have been operational, other companies and ancillary industries would have followed. The very economy of the place would have changed.
Bengal is the only loser in this case.

[King_pin09]

Originally Posted by humyum

Looks like a brilliant place to do a cars/prewedding/people photoshoot, can this be accessed or is it guarded ?

Yes abandoned mansions, buildings and dilapidated structures do form wonderful backdrop for photo shoots; especially Glamour and Theme based shoots.

While other possible ways to put this mammoth structure into better use are being explored, I do hear the silent cries of the owner who has made heavy investments from hard earned money and so of the prospective candidates seeking Employment to generate some income and help their families make a living. But then all comes to an abrupt end giving benefit to none.

[vinit.merchant]

We are all well aware of the purpose of the agitation. I mean not the one published in papers but the real reason behind it.

The benefactors of the agitation were taken aback when the decision was made to shift the manufacturing to a new location. They had not, in their dreams, thought that such a decision will be taken by the company, indulging in heavy losses. All they had in mind was the rational that a company would prefer to make a fecilitation payment, instead of incurring huge costs arising out of delayed production, etc etc. Remember some of the Tata employees were beaten and thrashed badly.

That's when the foot was put down. Ratan Tata decides to shift the production to an entirely different state, incurring even more expenses than the 200 crores mentioned above. He preferred this than bribing.

Hats off to him.

Looking at the picture shows the apathy and the sad state of affairs in a state which was once booming with industrialization. Now there is hardly anything left of the industries. Most have moved out, due to the highhandedness of the Trade Unions which are hand-in-glove with the political parties.

[hybridpetrol]

Tata, though the Nano was a finanicial failure, is still seen an engineering success, with various firsts, such as rear engine, cute looks, RWD, lowest cost (even now) etc.
After this failure, Tata has moved on - with several new releases and they are now on the track to the top, with their fresh line up now.
What has not changed (as seen from the empty factories) is the fate of those who lost their lands. What they fought for seems still out of sight. Yes, the factory is not running, Tatas moved out of their lands. But are the original land owners doing agriculture, or whatever they wished on their lands now?
What happened to the activists who went on fasts to move Tatas out of Singur? Now that nothing really happened to the land owners, and these activists are nowhere to be seen (or at least no news is coming out), their love for farmers seems only for political mileage.

[rangarx]

Well, who says nobody benefited? I reserve my comment here considering the forum rules.

This is the state of a powerful company like Tata when that is plagued by politics. Who knows, the Nano could have done much better but for the delays to market due to the factory shifting. We can only repent.

Moving the factory instead of paying bribe, if that is true, respect to Tata!

[su1978]

Having stayed in jamshedpur for a long time, i can somewhat reason out why did this happen in Singur. These people who were trying to gain advantage were well aware of the fact that Tata does not tolerate any nonsense at Jamshedpur where it is only the Tata, Tata and the Tata. From what i have heard, anyone who tries to create an issue, is tolerated till the time it does not effect the normal working lives of its employees and the functioning of the company. Anything beyond that boundary, is eliminated in a way that nobody will ever find out about the whereabouts of that character. Whatever we see or hear on media happens outside the jurisdiction area of the company. Apparently these thugs of that particular political party were aware about this fact. Hence, with a view to maintain their pressure from day 1, they resorted to all the agitation stuff. Had they succeeded in their endeavours, Singur plant would have been a milking cow with huge non-accounted income flow for that political party.

They did not even wonder in their dreams that Tata would take such a drastic step. I know some locals from that region who were always in favour of industrialization and had hoped for a constant income flow in form of salaries and opportunities for years to come.

[Samba]

I am a regular visitor to Singur. So let me share few details without touching the political side. Just sharing what happened in nutshell.

When TATA decided to make the factory at that time the ruling party of West Bengal had a strong opposition party.

Ruling party wanted to get the land from farmers in dirt cheap rate and give it to TATA, where as the opposition party wanted to take that advantage and highlight the farmers that they have been cheated.

TATA got the land, made the infrastructure and started the preliminary works.

Locals were agitated when there land was given and they were not much benefited.

Later they expected to get jobs from the factory which could compensate there loss. But it didnt happen like that. Able person's were hired.
Local hartals and bandhs continued to increase and the area was full of un-restness.

Because of the fight of two political parties the locals suffered and the factory work went for a toss. At that time TATA got a better offer from Gujrat and they shifted, abandoning Singur.

The land is totally a waste land now. If its given back to the farmers even then no farming can be done over here.

Under certain legal laws now this land is not getting sold or reconstructed for a new factory.

There are tight security in this area so outsiders are not allowed to go inside.

I asked the locals and they just keep on telling their sad stories about there financial loss which they had to bear for no fault of them. According to them many committed suicide too which were not in the news!

At the end a state and its people suffered due to politics. It was bad for the people. I sincerely hope the land is revived and a new factory/industry gets started on this so called abandoned land.

Just a picture for reference.

At the top is the pic of Himadri Petro Chemicals- Its just opposite to the TATA factory in Singur. It was established before the TATA project and this factory is running fine. This proves that the problem was not with the locals but with the management or political parties.

2nd from top is on NH2 where on the left side one can see the vast field, filled with Kash flower. That's the land TATA got for Singur project.

3rd one is the toll booth of NH2 from the Dankuni side which leads to Singur. From here Singur is 20kms and hardly a 20 minutes drive. So the location of the land was really excellent.

4th is the vast waste land of TATA factory in Singur. Note the unused fabricated structure.

[redcruiser]

Hats off to Ratan Tata for taking such a bold decision. All the agitators were caught on the wrong foot. Even Ratan Tata has publicly said that TATA would never invest in WB. Comments coming from such personalities have put the politics of the state in a bad light. How many manufacturing industries do you think will have the guts to invest in WB!!

[ksameer1234]

Extremely sad to see what could have become the flagbearer of automotive revolution in India.

One thing which I don't understand is that what happens if and when the land is returned to the owners. With so much construction having taken place, is it possible to dismantle everything and restore the land in its original state and carry out agricultural activities?

[LoneRidder]

Originally Posted by humyum

What a waste of land/resources, not to mention lives being spoiled. To me looks like all the parties involved were at a loss here.

Not all the parties are at loss, the battle at Singur ignited TMC's inroads to the power.

This was purely a political vindication. TATA's went to court only because, they had paid the compensation to obtain the land as per the land acquisition agreement signed with the Govt. Now farmers will not payback the monies nor the Govt nor TATA's would relent! There are many such stories.

Unless politics is not of "constructive", its worthless!