New Delhi - Work at the Tata Motors factory in eastern India
that is producing the world's cheapest car, the Nano, remained
stalled for the fifth day Tuesday but there was a glimmer of hope as
demonstrators demanding the return of farmland acquired for the
project agreed to talks.
Thousands of farmers and political activists have laid siege
around the factory in Singur, 40 kilometres north of West Bengal's
state capital Kolkata, since Sunday.
Leaders of the agitation met with West Bengal Governor Gopal
Gandhi on Sunday and said they were ready for a dialogue overseen by
an 'impartial mediator.'
The West Bengal government has also backed down, with the ruling
Left Front chairman Biman Bose saying Monday that the government was
ready for an unconditional dialogue, including a debate on the
disputed 400 acres.
Tata Motor's Nano factory is being built on 997 acres of land
acquired from farmers of which 400 acres is owned by farmers who have
refused compensation and claim the government has forcibly seized
their land.
Tata Motors, which was planning to roll out its first Nanos from
the Singur factory in October, is reported to be now considering
producing a limited number of cars from an already established plant
in Pantnagar in Uttarakhand state.
Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata had warned in August that he was
prepared to abandon the Singur plant and move the Nano project to
another state if the stalemate continued despite having invested over
350 million dollars in the project.
Workers remained away from the factory on Tuesday with the factory
management saying the atmosphere was not conducive for normal work.
Hundreds of protestors from the Trinamool Congress, farmers and
members of some smaller left parties along with a few Maoist
organizations continued their sit-in demonstration outside the
factory.
Banerjee has said the agitation would continue while negotiations
were taken up.
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