Mamata drove away Nano from West Bengal- Left

New Delhi, Oct 8 (UNI) A day after the Tata Motors chose Gujarat as a new home for the people's car Nano, the Left parties blamed Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee for putting a spanner in the wheel of the West Bengal Government's drive for industrialisation.

They, however, claimed that the farmers, agricultural workers and the middle class, had by now realised as to how "destructive role" Ms Banerjee played for the sake of opposition only. Her opposition to the Rs 1500 crore plant forced the Tatas to move out of Singur in the state.

The plant is now to come up on an 1000 acre plot at Chharodi village in Sanand, some 30 kms from Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

Elaborating on the shifting of the Nano project, CPI(M) senior leader Basudeb Acharia claimed that the farmers, the agricultural workers and the support base of Ms Banerjee- the middle class- had by now realised that the state suffered a "big loss" in terms of employment, relief and rehabilitation package and indirect employment.

Talking to UNI on phone from Kolkata, Mr Acharia, the party Floor leader in the Lok Sabha, alleged that Ms Banerjee as the Railway minsiter and later the Coal Minister in the NDA government never opposed the closure of as many as 22 central government undertakings.

"What will happen to those 800 people who got training for the Project, another 8000-9000 who were get direct employment and others- the beneficaries of indirect employment?" asked Mr Acharia.

CPI national Secretary and party mouthpiece- New Age- editor, Shamim Faizi claimed that the Agreement between the Tatas and the Gujarat government showed that farmers were not going to get what the Singur farmers were offered.

"The political forces in W Bengal must go for an introspection and come to a consensus which may pave way for a fresh bid for industrialisation of the state," Mr Faizi said.

Forward Bloc leader G Devrajan said the shifting of the Project would, of course, affect the industrial prospects of the state.

"Political parties should not act in an irresponsible manner.

Unfortunately, the farmers whose land was acquired for the Singur Nano Project, would be the greatest losers as they would not get their land back in view of the Supreme Court's earlier order in this conection. Mamata Banerjee played a destructive role from the very beginning," the FB leader added.

However, Mr Acharia maintained that though the state had suffered a setback for the time being, but the Nano was not the only Automobile unit. "We have already a big Ambassador Car manufacturing unit near Singur. We will overcome this temporary setback." The Marxist leader said a large number of industrial units were coming up in the state, particularly in the iron and steel sectors.

"At present the capicity to produce steel is just 3 million tonnes which we will raise to 20 million tonnes in the coming 3-4 years," he added.

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