Plant officials and engineers said the moulds had to be shifted immediately since it takes some time to get them going after the installation. But they said the shifting hadn’t been done at the cost of the Singur plant. If a turnaround in the Singur situation does happen—though that looks increasingly bleak—the plant here will be ready to manufacture the one-lakh car and can be “operationalised within a short period of time for limited production”.

Company officials said some men were already being relocated. Sapoorji Pallonji, the firm engaged by the Tatas for site construction, has already withdrawn its workforce of 260 personnel, including 60 engineers, and have transferred them to other sites.

“We have got clear indications that work (in Singur) is not going to resume anytime soon. So we are planning to transfer some of our engineers,” said an executive of Sapoorji Paloonji. He said they have already transferred 60 engineers from the Tata plant to TISCO in Jamshedpur, Tata Cancer Research Institute site in Rajarhat and other construction sites.

The Singur deadlock is back to where it all began when on Friday, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee refused to accept the government’s offer to return 70 acres of land from within the plant site to rehabilitate unwilling farmers. On Saturday, at an emergency meeting, Left Front partners backed Buddhadeb Bhattachajree and resolved that agitators should either accept the government’s offer or “leave it”. Front partners unanimously decided to launch a “political offensive” against Mamata Banerjee with a public meeting at Singur on Monday. The chief minister may also address the rally. Mamata Banerjee will respond with a rally at Singur on Tuesday, where, she said, she would explain to farmers how the government had gone back on its words.