Farmers Win Land Back From Tata Nano Factory Site

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That’s my virtually configured Nano, image: Tata Motors

You may have read how the future of construction on Indian car-maker Tata’s factory which would manufacture the Rs100,000 ($2,243) Nano had been suspended due to ongoing protests that land for the factory had been taken from local residents by the government of West Bengal without adequate compensation.

Well, there’s an update to the situation: Construction is still on hold, but land has been given back to the protestors. Further protests have been called off as a result of the land give-back, the BBC reports.

West Bengal Still Backs the Nano
West Bengal industry minister Nirupam Sen said that the integrity of the project remains intact adding, “We have only agreed to give some land in the project area to the land-losers, the land that the government has, but the rest of the land for the land-losers will come from outside the project area.”

The governor of West Bengal, Gopalkrishna Gandhi said, “The government has taken the decision to respond to the demand of those farmers who have not received compensation.”

Tata May Still Move Production
For its part, Tata has said it will continue the construction stoppage and reserves the right to investigate moving manufacturing of the Nano to a site elsewhere in India.

So, in short, for the moment the future of the so-called “People’s Car” remains in doubt, but farmers (who on the whole have remained apart from the benefits of India’s rapid industrialization) have gained a victory in West Bengal.

via :: BBC News

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