Tata bid to shield 'secret'

Calcutta, Dec. 2: Tata Motors moved a writ petition in the high court today challenging the state information commissioner’s decision to read out the entire agreement between the company and the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) for the Singur plant in an open court.

The company’s lawyer, Samaraditya Pal, told the court: “If the entire agreement is made public, the concept of trade secret will be hard hit.”

In mid-September, Tata Motors had moved court against the WBIDC’s decision to post parts of the agreement on its website following the commissioner’s order.

The court had then asked the commissioner to re-hear the case and allow Tata Motors to be a party to it.

The company had submitted the agreement to the commissioner in a sealed envelope for its hearing, but the official decided to read it out in its court, prompting the Tatas to move the high court. They also challenged the Right to Information Act while demanding a stay on the decision.

The case will be heard again on Friday.

Farmer suicide in Singur

Singur, Dec. 2: A sharecrop- per who had apparently lost work after nearly 1,000 acres were acquired for Tata Motors hanged himself today.

Bholanath Patra’s wife Shyamali said the family had six cottahs outside the factory site, but that was too little. “After he lost his job, we found it difficult to arrange two square meals a day. He started working in a cold storage unit but his health began to fail,” said Shyamali, a mother of two in Bajemelia.

Hooghly superintendent of police Rajeev Mishra said the 42-year-old farmer “was suffering from depression because of failing health”.

Bholanath was a Save Farmland Committee member during the height of the anti-Tata agitation. “Around noon, he locked himself in the bathroom. When he did not come out even after repeated knocking, I called villagers,” said Shyamali.

Mamata crop

Mamata Banerjee told a rally in Singur today that the Save Farmland Committee would cultivate paddy on the land acquired for the Tatas.

Sources : The Telegraph

Tatas told to disclose pact , but under seal

KOLKATA, Nov. 19: The state information commissioner today asked Tata Motors to submit on 24 November, under sealed cover, a copy of its agreement containing the undisclosed portion of details of the aborted Singur small car project, it was learnt.

Mr Arun Bhattacharya, state information commissioner today heard Tata Motors officials, leader of the Opposition, Mr Partha Chatterjee, Mr Subrata Gupta, MD, West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation in this connection.

While Mr Chatterjee again pleaded to the commissioner that Tata Motors and WBIDC should now make public the undisclosed parts of the pact between the state government and Tata Motors as the Tatas have abandoned the Singur small car project, Tata Motors lawyers submitted a letter stating that since Nano was designed to be marketed both within and outside the country, its drawing and design should not be disclosed.

The commissioner has fixed the final hearing on 28 November.

Tata Motors also moved court praying for a stay order so that the undisclosed portion of the agreement signed between WBIDC and Tata Motors stays confidential.

Mr Chatterjee had earlier met Mr Arun Bhattacharya demanding that Tata Motors should divulge the undisclosed information about the proposed small car project of Tata Motors in Singur. At that time Mr Chatterjee submitted to the commissioner a set of 15 questions on the agreement.

He had sought disclosure of the exact clauses in the contract between the Tata Group of Industries and the state government or its relevant offices, the extent of land acquisition, and how much money the Tatas would be paying for the land. What kind of tax or rebate benefits would be provided to the Tatas by the state government, and what would the share of investment by the Tata group, financial institutions, and state and Central government liabilities in the form of developing infrastructure, he had asked. He had also asked how many people were going to be employed in the short- or long-run and what their rate of income was to be.

Mr Chatterjee said today: "We did not ask about the design of the small car, nor for any information that may help their rival groups. We only asked about the basic information on behalf of the people whose land has been acquired." n SNS

Source : The Statesman

Rs. 60,000 subsidy for 1 lakh-car

GANDHINAGAR, Nov. 11: Details of the “coup” executed by Gujarat chief minister, Mr Narendra Modi, in getting the Nano plant to Sanand are now coming out. The Congress has calculated that the "sops" given to Tata Motors mean that the Gujarat government's contribution to the one-lakh car will be Rs. 60,000 per car.Mr Siddharth Patel, state Congress president, said the soft-loans and other concessions given will "add upto Rs. 30,000 crores". This has to be paid back in 20 years. "By then 50 lakh cars, at 2.5 lakh cars a year, would have been produced... This means that the cash incentive given adds up to Rs. 60,000 per car." He was referring to media reports about the details of the accord signed between the government and Tata Motors. While government officials have refused to confirm or deny its authenticity, there’s a document circulating in the secretariat that says that a loan of Rs 9,570 crores at a simple interest of 0.1% has been given. The deal, according to the document, is that the Tatas would get Rs. 2900 crores loan for the plant, plus Rs 6,670 crores for infrastructure costs. The plant also gets concessional power tariff, and exemption from payment of stamp duty, registration and transfer charges.

Source: The Statesman

Suhrid Dutta and Debu Malik found guilty

Statesman News Service

CHANDDERNAGORE, Nov 11: The CPI-M’s Hooghly district committee member, Suhrid Dutta, and his close aide, Debu Malik, were today found guilty in the Tapasi Malik murder case. The additional district and session judge of the Chanddernagore First Fast Track Court, Mr Amar Kanti Acharya, will pronounce the quantum of punishment tomorrow.The two accused were produced before the judge under tight security at 1 p.m. today. The judge declared Dutta and Malik guilty in a packed court room around 1.30 p.m. Dutta was convicted under Section 120 (B), read with Section 302, 201, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) while Debu was convicted under Sections 120 (B), 302, 34 and 201 IPC. Dutta's advocate, Mr Arindam Bhattacharjee, described the judgement as a miscarriage of justice. “We are not happy with the judgement. We will move a higher court after pronouncement of the quantum of punishment," he said. Malik's advocate, Mr Kishor Mondal said he would also challenge today's judgement in a higher court. Dutta's elder brother, Mr Saroj Dutta, who is the secretary of the CPI-M Bara local committee in Singur, said: “The conspiracy against my brother and our party is still on. We will unite the mass against the conspiracy. The legal battle will go on.” Earlier in the day, several thousand people, both from the CPI-M and Trinamul Congress, had gathered in the court premises to hear the judgement. They were, however, not allowed to enter the court. Some Trinamul Congress supporters tried to break down the police cordon when the accused were being taken inside the court, but they were chased away after a scuffle. Several CPI-M leaders, including two MPs, Mr Rupchand Paul and Mr Santashree Chatterjee, were present in the court. Welcoming the judgement, Tapasi's father, Mr Manoranjan Malik said: “We were confident that we would get justice. I am happy that my daughter's murderers were finally found guilty.” In Singur, several hundred locals joined in a rally that originated near Tapasi Malik's residence demanding capital punishment for Suhrid Dutta and Debu Malik“We want Dutta and Malik to be hanged. They were convicted by residents of Singur much before. Today they were convicted in a court,” said Ms Aparna Dhara, a friend of Tapasi.The Singur Krishi Jomi Raksha Committee organised several other rallies in villages across Singur demanding death penalty for the Tapasi murder accused. Welcoming the court's verdict, Trinamul Congress chief, Miss Mamata Banerjee said the chief minister had no moral right to continue as home minister and demanded that he should step down from his post. The CPI-M, however, asserted the two accused were falsely implicated. Reacting to the verdict, Mr Benoy Konar, CPI-M central committee member said it only “confirmed the Bengali saying that whatever the master wishes is carried out.” Miss Banerjee asked Mr Konar to explain what he actually meant and whom he was insinuating at. The Trinamul Congress and the Singur Krishi Jomi Jiban Raksha Committee will organise a rally at Singur on 5 December “in memory of Tapasi Malik”.

Tapasi Malik murder case at a glance

The charred body of Tapasi, an 18-year-old Singur Krishi Jomi Raksha Committee member, was found in a pit inside the Singur small car project area on 18 December 2006. A CID probe was ordered on that day The state government ordered a CBI probe on 12 Jaunuary 2007 Malik was arrested and taken to Delhi for a polygraph test on 24 June 2007 Dutta was arrested on 28 June 2007 on statement given to CBI sleuths by Malik CBI filed chargesheet in connection with the case on 15 September Trial began on 28 January 2008 and it continued till August A total 65 witnesses were examined during trial The accused were found guilty on 11 November.

Source: The Statesman

Singur tour

Calcutta Nov. 5: Representatives of First Automobile Works, China’s largest automobile company, today went to Singur scouting for land to set up a car plant.
The team reached Singur this evening and surveyed the project area that had been leased out for the Tata Nano project for 45 minutes.
This morning, the team visited Kharagpur. The officials were taken to see land near Jakpur and a plot near Guptamoni by officials of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation and Ural India. The company wants to set up the plant in collaboration with Ural India.
The team also surveyed a 230-acre plot belonging to the Haldia Development Authority adjacent to the Ural India factory that assembles dumpers. Ural India chairman J.K. Saraff said if land was not available in Haldia, the plant could come up in Kharagpur or Singur. “Search for land is on.”

Source : The Telegraph

Singur chat with China car maker

Calcutta, Nov. 4: A cautious Bengal government has included Singur on a list of sites being weighed by communist China’s largest automobile maker for a car plant.

Representatives of First Automobile Works (FAW) today called on chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and industries minister Nirupam Sen at the Writers’ Buildings.

“FAW is China’s largest automobile manufacturing company and has shown interest in setting up an automobile unit in Bengal. It will make all kinds of cars, including heavy vehicles,” Sen said.

Asked if the Singur plot would be given to the company, he said: “We discussed all possible locations, including Singur. But don’t spoil the project’s prospects by mentioning Singur as a possible location.”

The plot in Singur was developed for Tata Motors’ Nano plant but the project moved to Gujarat after land agitation by the Opposition. Sites in Kalyani, Haldia and Kharagpur were also discussed with the FAW delegation.

FAW Corporation and Ural India want to set up a joint venture to manufacture small cars and buses. The plan is to make 5,000 small cars a month priced at Rs 1.6 lakh each, said J.K. Saraff, chairman of Ural India, which makes heavy trucks in Haldia especially for the defence sector. Tata’s Nano has captured the world’s imagination because of its price: Rs 1 lakh.

“We need 600 acres,” Saraff said. “Today’s discussion was a preliminary one.”

Asked if he wanted the land in Singur, Saraff said the state would have to decide that. “One advantage in Singur is that the land is developed. But at the same time, it is not vacant. It has been leased out to another company.”

He said the ancillary plants could come up elsewhere. The location of the Nano project’s ancillary units had become a bone of contention, with Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee demanding they be moved out of the main project area and their part of the land be returned to “unwilling” landlosers.

An official in the chief minister’s secretariat said FAW had an annual manufacturing capacity of 20 lakh cars. “It will be good if such a foreign auto giant comes to the state. The company’s officials may shortly visit some of the possible locations for a spot inspection,” he said.

The 15-member Chinese team, led by Li Xiansheng, executive governor of Hubei province in China, also met urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya and power minister Mrinal Banerjee.

“We discussed many things with the chief minister, including investment opportunities in Bengal. The purpose of our visit is to promote co-operation between the countries,” Xiansheng said.

Power minister Banerjee said the delegation had shown interest in investing in the power sector. The Chinese officials discussed investment in infrastructure with the urban development minister.

Source : The Telegraph

Singur turns battlefield again

Statesman News Service

KOLKATA, Nov. 2: Clashes erupted in Singur today between Trinamul Congress supporters and the CPI-M backed Nano Banchao Committee during the procession organised by Trinamul and its allies over the Nano issue, leaving several injured and a number of vehicles ablaze.

The official car in which Mr Partha Chatterjee, the Leader of the Opposition, was travelling was attacked at Ghanashyampur near Singur. The windscreen and windows were smashed, forcing the car to turn back. Mr Chatterjee alleged that bricks had been thrown at his car and that the police used tear gas.

Trinamul supremo Miss Mamata Banerjee was stopped by the police near Dankuni crossing for about half an hour and told not go ahead.

The whole area turned into a battlefield with CPI-M cadres and processionists attacking one another. Several huts and vehicles were set on fire and many, including policemen, were injured.

Nano Banchao Committee activists had taken up positions at different entry points to Singur a couple of hours before the programme was to start. They shouted slogans protesting asking Miss Banerjee to go back and complained that the procession was an attempt to stir trouble in the area when efforts were on to set up a new industry there.

Miss Banerjee’s motorcade was stopped by police at Maitipara in Dankuni around 3 p.m. and a senior police officer asked her not to go ahead. She, however, insisted on continuing on her way to Singur. Police relented after about half an hour and she was allowed to proceed.

After reaching Singur, the Trinamul chief declared that the government should return “forcibly acquired” 400 acres of land to the unwilling farmers. “I’ll fight till the last; new industry can begin only after the unwilling farmers get back their lands.

“The CPI-M has become so politically bankrupt that when we wanted to organise a procession they resorted to violence and undemocratic behaviour,” Miss Banerjee said.

Trinamul Congress and its allies will organise a rally in the city to protest against today’s violence before the members of Krishi Jomi Jiban Jibika Raksha Committee (KJJJRC) meet to chalk out their next course of action.

She alleged that CPI-M cadres and the RAF tortured the villagers, including women, in Joymollah, Sanarapa and Bajemelia.

CPI-M state secretary Mr Biman Bose later said that those behind the landmine blast in Salboni and those who had driven out the Nano project were working together to thwart the state’s development.

Mr Bose said that the Trinamul and its allies were trying to hoodwink the people by claiming that they wanted both industry and agriculture to grow. He also alleged that Miss Banerjee was working in the interests of some other industrialists against the Tatas. ( Source: The Statesman )

Tata will return land: Buddha

Calcutta, Oct. 30: Tata Motors will return the land leased out for the Nano project, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told his allies at a Left Front meeting today.
Bhattacharjee clarified that the Tatas had never insisted on retaining the land after shifting the small-car plant out of Singur. “Despite the fact that 85 per cent of the work had been completed, Ratan Tata expressed his desire to return the land the day he announced the pullout. But we have to follow the procedures of taking back the land,” a front leader quoted him as telling the closed-door meeting.
A section of leaders from the CPM and its partners has been insisting on taking the land back so that it can be used for another project.
“The land was acquired for setting up industry and the front today asked the government to take effective steps to ensure that alternative industry comes up in Singur,” Biman Bose, the front chairman and state CPM secretary, said.
Legal provisions allow a leaseholder to retain the land for three years, after which the government can take it back if it has not been used for the purpose cited in the agreement.
Front partners like the RSP criticised the Tatas for “flouting the agreement with the government as it did not have any provision for a pullout because of the Opposition’s agitation”.
Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata drew flak for calling Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi a “good M” as opposed to the “bad M”, an obvious reference to Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.
Bhattacharjee, however, steered clear of the blame game and stressed that the company had not deserted Bengal.
“The Tatas still have many units here that employ 16,000 people. Their cancer hospital is expected to open next month. Another Tata unit is coming up in Kharagpur. We are expecting more investments from the company,’’ he said.
The chief minister told the meeting that the Tatas had not paid the lease money for the 997 acres acquired for the Nano project but had taken a soft loan of Rs 200 crore from the government.
Both Bhattacharjee and Bose ruled out returning the acquired land to “unwilling farmers” as Trinamul has demanded. “The government is looking at possibilities of alternative industries in Singur but no specific proposal was discussed today,’’ Bose said.
Bhattacharjee distanced himself from transport minister Subhas Chakraborty’s claim that a deal had almost been finalised for Singur.
“Maybe one of my over-enthusiastic colleagues has said so, but nothing has been finalised. We are considering various proposals, including clusters of several industries and an industrial park for small-scale industries,’’ he was quoted as saying.

Source: The Telegraph

Roadblock with request for Tata team

Chinsurah, Oct. 29: Nearly 200 members of the Nano Banchao Committee today descended on three buses carrying Tata Motors employees, pleading with them not to remove any machinery from the project site.

The buses were allowed to move after half an hour, when the Tata officials and technical staff explained they had come only to inspect the machinery lying in the factory and not take them away.

Villagers on vigil at the project gates spotted the buses around 8.40 this morning and rushed towards them.

“We had no intention of stopping them from entering the plant. We only want to ensure no machinery is removed because we want the Nano to be brought out from Singur,” said Saday Kolay, secretary of the committee.

A Tata team on a similar recce had been blocked on October 22, but was allowed passage after villagers urged them with folded hands not to leave Singur.

The Nano committee has said it will not let Mamata Banerjee enter Singur, where she has lined up a rally on November 2. “We will mobilise 10,000 villagers in Singur on November 2…. We will block Durgapur Expressway at the approach to Singur,” Kolay said.

The Trinamul Congress chief, however, said this evening that she would hold the rally “at any cost”.

“I will go to Singur as planned on November 2. Let me see who can stop me. The CPM and the police are trying to create trouble ahead of my visit,” Mamata said.

The Nano committee is also planning to greet Mamata with black flags when she passes Durgapur Expressway on her way to Ausgram in Burdwan tomorrow.

Police said adequate arrangements had been made for Mamata’s rally. “We are prepared to handle any situation. We will not tolerate any trouble in Singur on November 2,” Hooghly superintendent of police Rajeev Mishra said.(END)

Source: The Telegraph

Singur land for industry, says govt

Calcutta/Singur, Oct. 22: The Singur land leased out for the Nano project will be used only for industry, the state government said today.

"The nature of the land has been changed for setting up industry. So, in future, the state government will use the Singur land for setting up industry and increasing employment opportunities. For this, the government is taking specific steps,” a statement said.

Industries secretary Sabyasachi Sen said “one big project” need not necessarily come up there. “There could be small- or medium-scale enterprises, light engineering units, industrial parks or food processing parks that generate employment. Or, we may think of bringing projects that haven’t got land elsewhere.’’

He added that “as of now, we haven’t got any concrete proposal”.

First, the Tatas will have to inform the government whether they will vacate the land or hold on to it, Sen said. “We will ask them about their plans, probably in November. They are in the process of shifting machinery and have sought police help.”

Machinery ruckus

In Singur, the presence of about 50 engineers and officials of Tata Motors, who had come to remove machinery from the site, sparked an uproar among members of the Singur Banchao Committee that wants the plant there.

Nearly 30 members sitting on a dharna near the plant rushed towards three buses carrying the engineers. But a police contingent intervened.

Soon, about 200 more villagers — some who had given up their land and others members of supply syndicates — gathered and raised slogans demanding that the Nano be manufactured in Singur. Some villagers assaulted labourers heading to the plant to help dismantle the machinery. The police drove the villagers away. (END) Source: The Telegraph