The Tatas today announced they were shifting their Rs 1-lakh Nano car project to Sanand near Ahmedabad — this was first reported by The Indian Express — after a controversial stay in Singur in West Bengal. The Tatas, who quit Singur last Friday, said they would be investing Rs 2,000 crore and would go all out to meet the deadline for the world’s cheapest car, even if it meant turning to a makeshift plant.A Tata Motors statement said it would explore the possibility of manufacturing Nano at its existing facilities in Pune and Pantnagar and would launch the car in the last quarter (January-March) of the financial year.“This is an extremely momentous and happy day for us because we have been through a rather sad experience from a small quarter of residents of West Bengal despite the efforts of the state government,” Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata said at a joint press conference with Chief Minister Narendra Modi.A Memorandum of Understanding in the form of a State Support Agreement (SSA) was signed by Tata Motors Managing Director Ravi Kant and Principal Secretary (Industries) Gauri Kumar.Modi and a small team of select bureaucrats had kept under wraps their discussions with Tata Motors ever since the company indicated it was doing a rethink on Singur. Ratan Tata, who described himself as “a son of the soil”, praised Modi for speedy allocation of about 1,100 acres of centrally located land. “The site in Gujarat, already under the possession of the state government, will help Tata Motors establish a new dedicated mother plant with the shortest possible time lag and least possible increment project cost,” he said. Together with Tata Motors, about 60 vendors would also move to the new location. Welcoming the Tatas, Modi said: “Tatas and Gujarat have started a new chapter of partnership which will give a new direction and dimension to the state. The Nano project will make Gujarat an important place in surface transport.”
