Tatas on Friday pulled out of West Bengal for its Rs 1 lakh car Nano project, blaming it on continuing agitation by the Opposition parties, spearheaded by Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee.Addressing the media after meeting with Chief Minister Budhadeb Bhattacharjee, Ratan Tata, however, said that Nano will come out as per the committed time."Nano will come on time. We will make make-shift arrangement to meet deadline," Tata said."We regret the decision. But there was little choice but move out of Singur,” he said.The move has been prompted after taking into account issues such as well-being of its employees at the project and safety of contractors as well as that of its vendors.The persisting agitation by the Opposition parties has been the sole reason behind the decision to pull out the project, he said.The company is exploring offers from three-four states about the new site of the project and the new location would be announced soon, Tata said."There was little choice but to move out of Singur," 70-year-old Tata said.The Rs 1,500-crore project was announced in May 2006 for which the work started in January 2007. It ran into rough weather with the Trinamool Congress strongly opposing the land acquisition by the state for the project."To the best of my knowledge, the land was acquired legally. It was done transparently and the compensation was based fairly," he said.Efforts by the West Bengal Chief Minister and Governor Gopal K Gandhi to salvage the project turned futile with Banerjee unwilling to relent on her demand of returning 300 acres of acquired land to farmers.Tata said the move has been prompted after taking into account issues such as well-being of its employees at the project and safety of contractors as well as that of its vendors.On the future association of Tatas with the state, he said the group already has considerable presence here and it has not lost enthusiasm in future investment."I hope West Bengal prosper in the future. In the future we will be here again. We don't believe that we have lost our enthusiasm in investing in West Bengal and assure that we will invest in the state for new projects," he said.Tata said the pull-out decision would have no bearing on group's future investments in the state.
