States roll out the red carpet for TATA, Nano

HOPING AGAINST HOPE: Buddhadeb is hoping against hope that Nano rolls out of Singur.

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New Delhi: West Bengal's loss could well be - Maharashtra, Orissa or even Karnataka's.

A day after Ratan Tata - the father of the Rs 1 lakh car,Nano - threatened to move the project lock, stock and barrel out of Singur, other state government's are rolling out the red carpet for the Rs 1,500 crore project.

"I could read from Ratan Tata's statement that he is troubled in West Bengal so I invited him to come here instead and we will give him a red carpet welcome. There are a lot of probable sites for the Nana project in Maharashtra. We have a mega-project policy in Maharashtra and whatever concessions there are in that policy will be given to the TATAs if they decided to come here," Mahrashtra Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh said.

"We will offer a market price to the farmers and give proper compensation for their land. All problems related to land acquisition for industry have become synonymous with the state of West Bengal," he added.

Meanwhile, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik too is echoing the invitation. "Orissa is willing to consider the Nano project if TATA approaches us," he said.

Orissa's Industry Minister, Biswa Bhusan Harichandan has criticised the Left-ruled West Bengal government for being desperate to retain the Nano project in the state, but at the same time, the same Left parties are protesting various other mega projects in Orissa.

"TATA has already acquired a lot of land at Bhopalpur in Orissa. This could be the probable site for Nano if TATA agrees," said Harichandan.

But it's easier said than done. The TATAs already have a mega steel plant project at Kalinganagar which couldn't even start construction work thanks to stiff protests for the last three years. Fourteen tribals have already died in police firing during protests.

Simultaneously, the Punjab government has invited a delegation of the TATA group for a formal meeting with the Chief Minister so that every aspect of the proposed plant could be discussed.

"I will soon write an offer letter to TATA Group to formally invite them to install its Nano plant in Punjab, for which every possible facility will be provided by the state government," says state Industry Minister, Manoranjan Kalia.

"The state would make one of the best available offers to the TATAs. Once the offer is discussed in a threadbare manner, every issue would be sorted out," he added.

But it is Dharwad in Karnataka that sources say the TATA's may chose to move thier nano project to. Dharwad already has a TATA unit.

But with 80 per cent of the project aleady complete, West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhatcharjee, would be hoping against hope that the People's Car rolls out of Singur this October. And for that to happen he will have to ensure that Mamata Bannerjee's indefinite protests begining on Sunday remain peaceful.

(With inputs from Raksha Shetty in Mumbai and Jajati Karan in Orissa)