Ratan Tata threatens to withdraw from Singur

Kolkata, Aug 22: Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata has threatened to pull out from Singur following agitation threat from Mamata Banerjee and farmers.

Addressing the press conference on his visit for the Annual General Meeting Ratan Tata said, "We can't work where we are not needed. We will exit Singur if the feeling of distrust and violence continues and for the safety of our employees". He said that the plant cannot function under police protection.

He further said, "My concern is the fact that if this violence and disruption of work continues, obviously it is not a conducive atmosphere...the boundary walls have been broken and plant materials stolen...I can not bring my managers and their families to be beaten up, nor can their children go to school under threat," he said.

"If some people think that we have already made Rs. 1,500 crore investment and that can not be altered, they are wrong," Ratan Tata said.

With meetings between West Bengal's Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Mamata Banerjee remaining inconclusive, the Trinamool Congress chief said it would go ahead with indefinite dharna near the Tata Motors' small car plant from August 24, but was open to dialogue. She said, "We will march to Singur, sit on roads and agitate till a solution to the problem of returning 400 acre to unwilling farmers is found."

OneIndia News