Kolkata, Dec 9 (IANS) The railways Wednesday in principle agreed to set up a coach factory on the land abandoned by Tata Motors in Singur, and asked the West Bengal government to furnish all details about the plot.
In a letter to state Chief Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakrabarti, Railway Board chairman S. S. Khurana said the factory would be set up after returning 400 acres of the 997.11 acres to farmers from whom land had been acquired for the Nano project.

“Within the total area, after returning 400 acres to the farmers, a world class coach manufacturing unit will be set up on the rest of the land,” said the letter that reached the secretariat Wednesday evening.

Khurana asked Chakrabarti to provide all data about the land to the railways.

The letter comes a day after the state’s Left Front government Tuesday asked the railways to set up an industry on the Hooghly district plot, about 40 km from Kolkata.

Earlier, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had evinced interest to set up a rail coach factory in collaboration with the state government or on a public-private-partnership model at the abandoned Nano project site in Hooghly district’s Singur area, about 40 km from Kolkata.

“The state government can give the land. That will be their equity. We can set up the factory. That will be our equity,” Banerjee had said.

The state government decided to accept Banerjee’s proposal after its bid to rope in Chinese automobile major First Automobile Works (FAW) and state-run power equipment manufacturer Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) for setting up industries there failed.

Tata Motors had abandoned the 997.11-acre site in October last year succumbing to the protest by peasants led by the Trinamool Congress, which demanded the return of 400 acres taken from farmers reportedly unwilling to part with their land.

The company had planned to roll out the Nano, the world’s least expensive car, from the Singur site, but shifted operations to Gujarat’s Sanand after the disturbances. However, the land is still in its possession.