Governor Gandhi begins Tata talks

Kolkata/New Delhi: West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi began preliminary talks on Thursday to end the impasse over the Tata Motors car project in Singur, even as company chief Ratan Tata said all steps were being taken to roll out little Nano as scheduled.

The governor, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, met representatives of farmers who are protesting the acquisition of some 400 acres of farmland for the project and the state government separately, ahead of the formal talks on Friday.

The informal meeting was the result of Mamata Banerjee, the chief of Trinamool Congress, which is spearheading the protests, softening her stand and agreeing to the reconciliatory talks being mediated by the state governor.

"I am hopeful about a solution in the talks because both the West Bengal chief minister and Mamata Banerjee are sincere in their efforts to end the stalemate," Gandhi said, adding Tata group representatives were also invited for talks.

Farmers waiting

Even at the Tata factory at Singur, some 40km from the state capital Kolkata, there was not much activity at the makeshift podiums raised by the Trinamool Congress along the Durgapur Expressway, as the farmers anxiously awaited some positive settlement today.

Trinamool Congress-backed farmers have been holding protests since August 24 at the company's factory at Singur, wanting 400 acres of land out of the 997 acres acquired for the project and the ancillary units, to be returned.

As the protests intensified, Tata last week suspended work at the site, which employs some 800 people, including engineers from South Korea and Singapore, saying it will not put its employees at risk. It also threatened to relocate the project.