Tata Motors officials face agitation at small car site

Kolkata, May 25 (UNI) Tata Motors officials faced a demonstration by angry villagers in West Bengal today while inspecting a site in Hooghly district for setting up a plant for the ambitious Rs one lakh small car.

Industry Minister Nirupam Sen said a group of people confronted a technical team of Tata Motors when they visited Bajeberia village near Singur and shouted slogans.

Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata announced last week his decision to set up the factory with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore.

The Tata Motors team, which included General Manager A S Puri, was being accompanied by officials of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation(WBIDC) and the district administration. They left the place with security personnel holding the agitating villagers at a distance.

Describing the incident as a 'spontaneous' expression of the people's anxiety over the possibility of acquisition of farm land, Mr Sen said the district administration had been asked to hold a meeting with the local people on May 27 to dispel their fear.