It’s official now. West Bengal will miss its date with the first Nano — the world’s cheapest car that was to roll out of the Tata Motors Singur plant this October-November.

Citing the indefinite blockade — by Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress — and the “hostile situation,” Tata Motors today declared suspension of work and announced it was “evaluating alternate options” for manufacturing its Rs 1-lakh Nano car at “other company facilities.” And in what rattled the state government, it added: “A detailed plan to relocate the plant and machinery to an alternate site is under preparation.”

When contacted, CPM MP Mohammad Salim said: “The Tatas have decided to bring out the first Nanos from their Pantnagar or Pune factory. They have to do this because they will have to manufacture at least 1,500 cars every month from October so that they can keep their commitment of supplying adequate number of cars to showrooms and international exhibitions. As far as West Bengal is concerned, we are now trying to ensure that, at least, the company keeps Singur as the mother plant in future.”

Said Nirupam Sen, the state’s Industry Minister: “It’s a sad day for Bengal. The Opposition did not respond to our request. We never expected them to be so irresponsible.”

Tata Motors, after struggling hard to make up for lost time on account of a bad monsoon last year, nearly caught up with its deadline of an October-November launch by stepping up the pace of work. But a marked deterioration in the law and order situation and Mamata Banerjee’s indefinite blockade brought work to a standstill.

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