October 05, 2008	Sunday	Shawwal 05, 1429

SINGUR (India), Oct 4: Thousands of protestors armed with iron bars demonstrated on Saturday over the decision by Tata Motors to abandon a factory to make the world’s cheapest car.

The country’s largest vehicle maker announced on Friday that it was leaving the Nano car plant site on the outskirts of the West Bengal state capital Kolkata after weeks of violent protests by farmers angered by the forced purchase of their land.

Saturday’s demonstrators were local residents who had either sold up willingly or had hoped that the plant in Singur would create jobs in the economically deprived area.

“We want the Nano to roll out from Singur,” they chanted, as some dug up chunks of road, blocking traffic and leaving thousands of trucks stranded on the highway to Kolkata.

Kamu Maji, the owner of a tea shop near the plant, said his business had tripled since construction began on the factory which was almost completed by the time Tata Motors decided to call it a day.

Building was halted in late August when protests made work at the site impossible.

“You cannot run a plant when bombs are being thrown, you cannot run a plant when workers are being intimidated,” Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata said as he announced the pull-out in Kolkata on Friday.

He said there was no possibility the company would change its mind.

Farmers and activists led by Mamata Banerjee, the fiery chief of the regional Trinamool Congress party, had accused the state government of forcing farmers to give up their fertile land for a pittance to make way for the plant.

On Saturday, farmers in the area were worried that they might have lost out twice.

“We’re frustrated and confused,” said Laxman Das, 60, whose land was purchased under a mandatory state government order.

“I don’t think I will get back my land,” he said, adding he still had not received any compensation for it.

“We have nothing to eat. We have nothing to wear,” one angry man told reporters, while another wept as he talked about the prospect of being jobless.

Supporters of the plant said they would keep up their protests until the company returned to Singur.—AFP