Bengal Govt comes clean on deal details

For now, however, the details will be accessible only to legislators, as Commerce and Industries Minister Nirupam Sen read out the deal to a standing committee of the Assembly on Wednesday.

Congress legislator Sudip Bandodpadhyay, chairman of the 14-member Standing Committee on Commerce and Industry, had written to Sen seeking the details of the deal struck on March 9, 2007.

Bandhopadhyay, briefing reporters at a joint press conference with Sen, criticised the Government for charging the Tatas only Rs 1 crore a year as lease rent for the 650 acres allotted for the main plant. The Tatas will pay this for the first five years, then step it up by 25 per cent a year for five years and so on; the lease is for 90 years. During this period, the Tatas would be making a total payment of about Rs 850 crore for the land. “This is a meagre amount for a rich industrial house like the Tatas,” Bandopadhyay said.

Earlier, Sen had defended the incentives by saying that other states are offering the Tatas land free for the project.

Although the minister had briefed the Assembly on March 15, 2007, about the deal, the Government had earlier declined to reveal the contents fully, citing business secrecy.

The standing committee is scheduled to meet again on August 29.