Industry says Tata pullout from West Bengal sad

New Delhi, Oct 4 (UNI) Two leading industry chambers have described Tata's decision to move Nano car project out of Singur as "sad and unfortunate," with Assocham exonerating the West Bengal government but holding " a section of polity" responsible for it.

While giving a clean chit to the state Chief Minister, Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata blamed Trinamool Congress President Mamata Banerjee for pushing him to take the pullout decision. "Our reason for leaving West Bengal is entirely because of the continued aggression and agitation by the Opposition led by Mamata Banerjee with total disregard for the rule of law, and not because what the state government has done or not done".

Dubbing it "the most unfortunate happening of industrial activities in twenty first century," Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said "a section of a polity and people of West Bengal will have to pay a very serious price for it".

But at the same time, he said, industrial prospects for the state will continue to hold promises despite the pullout.

Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), in a guarded reaction, said it is "sad" that the land dispute over the project site could not be amicably resolved and the project could not be retained in Singur.

"The Tata project could have brought about a major change in the industrial scenario in Bengal", said Ficci Secretary General Amit Mitra, adding this was not a one-off auto project but would have given a boost to a whole host of ancillaries as well.

The chamber noted that Bengal's tradition of engineering and heavy industry had suffered over time because of lack of fresh investments and gradual closure of many of the old engineering industries.

UNI SAA MP AS1325