State invites pour in for Nano...

Other states have rolled out the red carpet for the world’s cheapest car today as clouds gathered over the Nano plant in Singur.

A day after Ratan Tata threatened to abandon the project, the Maharashtra and Punjab governments said they were ready to host the Nano if the company was forced to move out of the state.

The first off the block was Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who called a news conference at 8.30 in the morning in Mumbai to announce a “red carpet welcome” to the Tatas.

“If the Tatas want, they can set up operations in Maharashtra. We shall offer them all facilities and land anywhere they require — Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad or any place of their choice,” Deshmukh said.

The invite would have touched a raw nerve in Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who had earlier in the month offered to host Videocon’s Rs 8,000-crore liquid crystal display panel unit that ran into political turbulence in Maharashtra.

While Deshmukh is keen on Aurangabad, government sources said Chakan or Pimpri-Chinchuad near Pune were the best bets to be the new Nano home if Singur lost out.

The Tatas already have a facility in Pimpri-Chinchuad, about 100km from Pune. Chakan, once an arid outback, is being developed as a auto hub and now has manufacturing units of Volkswagen, Mercedes Benz, BMW and homegrown manufacturers like Bajaj and Mahindra and Mahindra.

Hours after Deshmukh began fishing for the Nano, Punjab joined in.

Manoranjan Kalia, the industries minister, said Punjab would be only too willing to offer land to the Tatas. “We will meet Ratan Tata to urge him to come to Punjab to set up the plant,” he said.

The Tatas do not have any industrial relationship with Punjab, their only venture being in the social sector.

While the group is building a hospital in Bengal, in Punjab it is setting up a training school at Muktsar for heavy-vehicle drivers.

Although no formal invitation has been made, Punjab government sources said this was an opportunity to make amends as it had earlier offered only 300 acres to the company for the plant.

“We will offer them land either at Ropar, Kapurthala or Nabha, towns that are close to Chandigarh. We can provide them a thousand acres or even more wherever they want. We will give special concessions also if they desire,” a government official said.

Orissa, where the Tatas faced resistance to their proposed steel plant in Kalinga Nagar, also indicated it was not averse to host the Nano. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik said his government has always welcomed big industries as they generate employment and revenue. “If they (Tatas) approach us, we’ll see,” he said.

Industry watchers, however, said the most likely alternative sites were Uttarakhand’s Pantnagar, where Tata Motors builds its Ace mini-truck, and Maharashtra. Uttarakhand chief minister B.C. Khanduri said he was willing to give the Tatas more land. But Uttarakhand’s State Industries Development Corporation Limited said there was not much space left in Pantnagar.

Source: The Telegraph