Tata Motors wins Singur land case in Kolkata High Court
   In a major win for Tata Motors, the Kolkata High Court on June 22, 2012 ruled that the Singular Land Rehabilitation and Development Act 2011 was constitutionally invalid. A`division bench held the Act void as the President's assent had not been taken. However, the court also stayed the implementation of its order stayed for two months to allow the government to appeal. The earlier Left Front government had leased 997.11 acres of land in Singur to Tata Motors to set up a manufacturing unit for the Nano car. Land from about 13,000 landowners had been acquired for the plant but about 2,200 of them, with about 400 acres between them, refused to accept compensation. 
   
   
     Singur in Hooghly (WB)
  400 acres at Singur to return to farmers
  Mamata Banerjee   had promised to return the 400 acres to the unwilling farmers, and said that Tata Motors could build a factory on the remaining land. The Act, one of the first enacted after Ms Banerjee became chief minister, empowers the government to return 400 of the nearly 1000 acres leased to Tata Motors at Singur to farmers who had unwillingly parted with their land. 
  On June 9, 2011 the West Bengal government promulgated an ordinance to acquire 400 acres of land at Singur to return it to the farmers, from whom it was taken "against their will" by the previous Left Front regime for the Tata Motors Nano small car project.
  "We have promulgated an ordinance. By the ordinance, we will return 400 acres of land at Singur to the unwilling farmers. Cabinet had already taken the decision. The governor has signed the ordinance. The remaining 600 acres of land will be available for industry," Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told reporters here.
  Singur
 The West Bengal state had witnessed a large-scale agitation over land acquisition in Singur for the Tata's Nano car project. The unit was later shifted to Gujarat. Singur is a small town with a population of 19,539 (2001 Census)  in Hooghly district in  West Bengal. Singur railway station is 34 km from Howrah Station on the Howrah- Tarakeswar line. Singur is among the most highly fertile agricultural land in West Bengal. Almost the entire local population depends on agriculture with approximately 150,000 making their livelihood directly from it .Singur came in limelight when Tatas ceremonially started the construction of the plant to manufacture the world's smallest and cheapest car Nano at Singur on 21 January 2007.  

   
  Tata;s nano car now goes to a new home Gujarat.
 The process of setting up the factory that have come under severe criticism are the government's secrecy on the details of the deal and the chief minister's furnishing of false information, including in the legislative  assembly Vidhan Sabha.   
  Singur after Loks Sabha election 2009
  Kolkata, December 26, 2009 : The West Bengal government has begun the formalities for taking back the land it had acquired for Tata Motors for its small car project in Singur, a senior official said.
  Manner of land acquisition in WB a mistake: Amartya Sen
  Kolkata August 6, 2009 (PTI): Despite the "overwhelming" need for industry in West Bengal, the manner in which the state government acquired land for the purpose was a "mistake," Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen has said."There is an overwhelming need for industry so that this poor state can flourish again. (But) The way that land was acquired was a mistake. If one needs industry, there has to be land, but acquisition of land should have been the last resort," Sen said at an interaction after the 3rd Annual Penguin Lecture here last evening.
  Mamata for railway coach factory at Singur 
  Singur August 2, 2009 (PTI): Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee today said her ministry was prepared to set up a rail coach factory at Singur, provided 600 acres of the 1000-acre land earlier acquired by the Tatas to set up 'Nano' factory was made available to it. The announcement of the project came exactly a year after she launched her indefinite agitation in the village that ultimately drove the Tatas to take away their prized small car project to Sanand in Gujarat.
   Singur after the exit of the Tatas Motors 
   The Tata Motors, which had launched the Nano as a 'people's car' at Rs 100,000 to much fanfare, said it was not possible to build a factory and ancillaries on 600 acres. Tata Motors in October 2008 shifted the project to Sanand in Gujarat. It also filed a case seeking compensation for their investment of about Rs1,500 crore in Singur. A single bench of the court had upheld the validity of the Act on September 28, 2011. The Tatas appealed to a two-judge division bench.
   Kolkata April 21, 2009: Whether Tata Motors will vacate the site of its original Nano car factory at Singur or not may depend, many believe, on how many people book the now-famous vehicle. Many who had taken up space at the vendor park, the centre of the main dispute with the give-us-our-land-back agitationists led by the opposition Trinamool Congress, are hanging on in this hope. Nano vendors say if all-India bookings cross 500,000, Tata Motors may have to explore the option of having a satellite plant to its present mother factory at Sanand near Ahmedabad.
   Mumbai, January 15, 2009:  Ancillary suppliers for the Rs 1-lakh Nano, who invested in land and buildings at Singur, are in talks with Tata Motors for a compensation package. A meeting is due on Saturday between key people in he Tata group and the vendor fraternity.
  KOLKATA, December. 31, 2008:  In a clear indictment of the acquisition of land for the aborted Tata Motors’ small car project at Singur, Nobel laureate Prof. Amartya Sen today said the Tatas should have bought the land and that there was no reason why they didn’t do so while  they could buy one of the world’s steel majors.  Prof. Sen, who described himself as a Leftist, also questioned the policy of land acquisition for industrialisation which is being pursued by the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee-government. “Land acquisition for setting up industries should be the last recourse,” he said. The chief minister, state finance minister, several other state ministers and Left Front leaders were among the audience.

  Kolkata, December 29, 2008:   Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee challenged the Opposition on Sunday by saying that the land acquired for the small car project in Singur will only be used for industrial purposes. Addressing the 22nd West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB) employees’ union state conference at Barasat, Bhattacharjee accused the Opposition of “creating all sorts of problems for the government when it tries to undertake any kind of  development work for which land acquisition is required”. 
 Kolkata, December 24, 2008: The Tata Motors will vacate the Nano site at Singur in another eight months, according to one top state government official. “Last month, we received a letter from the Tata Motors in which they stated that they would take another nine months to dismantle the structure at Singur and leave the site. Till that time they will keep on paying the lease rent for the land,” the official told The Indian Express. 
  Pranab backs land acquisition for industry
  KOLKATA, December 22, 2008: Pranab Mukherjee is all for acquiring land for setting up industry. On Sunday, the veteran Congress leader made it clear that he didn't agree with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who is banking on the agriculture-versus-industry issue to achieve her political goal. 
  Kolkata, November 22, 2008: Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said no industrialial and development projects in Bengal will be shelved due to land problem. Addressing a rally in Baruipur, South 24 Parganas, on Saturday, the chief minister lambasted the Oppostion for trying to stall all developmental projects in the state and driving away the Tatas. “The Opposition is not talking logically. I ask them who benefitted when the Tatas left Singur?
  Singur, November 16, 2008:  Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Saturday warned the West Bengal government against inviting any investor to set up industry here on the land lying vacant following the exit of Tata Motors, insisting that it float a global tender for the purpose. She set a December 2 deadline for return of 400 acres of ‘excess’ land, which she alleged was forcibly acquired for the Tatas’ car project, since relocated in Gujarat.
  Singur, November 6, 2008 (PTI): The body of a sub-inspector of police was found in a ditch beside the Durgapur Expressway running beside the Tata Motors factory in Singur on Thursday. The SI, Bidhan Chandra Patra, posted at the Enforcement Branch at Bhabani Bhawan in Kolkata had arrived for duty in Singur on Wednesday, SDPO, Chandanagore, Amitava Maity said. 
   SINGUR, November 02, 2008:  Violence returned to haunt Singur once again when CPM cadre tried to stop Trinamool Congress Mamata Banerjee from entering the area for a meeting on Sunday afternoon. Police fired teargas shells when Trinamool supporters — enraged by the ransacking of the car of Opposition leader in the West Bengal Assembly Partha Chatterjee — clashed with CPM-led Nano Bachao Committee members, who blocked 
roads at various points leading to Singur. 
   Kolkata/Singur, Oct. 22, 2008: The Singur land leased out for the Nano project will be used only for industry, the state government said today. “The nature of the land has been changed for setting up industry. So, in future, the state government will use the Singur land for setting up industry and increasing employment opportunities. For this, the government is taking specific steps,” a statement said.
  KOLKATA, October 20, 2008: With the bitter taste of Singur and Nandigram over land acquisition lingering, the state government has finally decided to prepare a database for non-agricultural, vested land available for setting up of industrial projects in each district. In a bid to expedite the allotment of such vested land for industry the chief minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has also set up a three member committee headed by the chief secretary. 
 After Nano's re-location in Gujarat
 Kolkata, October 17, 2008:  Tata Motors has issued an advertisement in four newspapers in Kolkata an open letter by Ratan Tata. In it, he refers to the exit 
of the Nano from Bengal and asks if the citizens of the state want jobs or lawlessness. Addressing the youth the letter says: "Would you like to support the present government of Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharya to build a prosperous 
state with rule of law, modern infrastructure and industrial growth or a state consumed by a destructive political environment of confrontation, agitation, violence and lawlessness". "Do they want education and jobs in the industrial and hi-tech sectors or," the letter goes on to say, "does the future generation see their future prosperity achieved on a 'stay-as-we-are' basis?" 
   KOLKATA, October 16, 2008:  Residents of Singur demanding that the Tata Motors small car project be set up at Singur as had been planned before its relocation threatened here on Wednesday that they would hold a “satyagraha” outside Parliament if their demand was not acceded to.
   As feared,land prices have started falling in and around the Singur area, after the Nano pullout.
   KOLKATA, October 14, 2008: A new automobile manufacturing plant will be set up at the site in Singur, where the Tata Motors Nano project was to have come up, State’s Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty said here on Monday.A memorandum of understanding with the company concerned will be signed within October 31, he said.
  NEW DELHI, October 10, 2008:  According to the CPI-M mouthpiece, People’s Democracy, the Trinamul Congress leader, Miss Mamata Banerjee, not only succeeded in driving Tata’s Nano project out of West Bengal but “facilitated” its re-location in Gujarat.   
  Tata Nano  to Gujarat from Singur  
   AHMEDABAD, October 08, 2008: The chairman of the Tata Group Ratan Tata on Tuesday announced the relocation of the Rs 2,000-crore Tata Nano project to Gujarat from Singur in West Bengal. The Tatas will set up the ‘mother plant’ for the Nano on 1100 acres at Sanand, about 35 kilometers from Ahmedabad. Members of the state cabinet and senior officials of the Tata group were present during the signing of the agreement.
   Tata said that the group had opted for Gujarat because it had “already lost a lot of time (in the Singur controversy) and urgency was the need of the day.”
    Siege of Singur 
  Kolkata, October 06, 2008:  It's festival time once again in West Bengal. But the Durga Puja in West Bengal this time is being held under a looming cloud over the exit of the Nano from Singur.
  SINGUR, October 04, 2008: Thousands of protestors armed with iron bars demonstrated Saturday over the decision by India's Tata Motors to abandon a factory to make the world's cheapest car. The Tata's announced Friday that it was leaving the Nano car plant site on the outskirts of the West Bengal state 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. 
  KOLKATA, October 03, 2008: Tata Motors on Friday decided to exit Singur in West Bengal. The decision came after Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata met West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in the state secretariat. Ratan Tata was accompanied at the talks by Tata Motors' managing director Ravi Kant. The Tatas are exploring other options for the site. Tata officials have reportedly already met Chief MInisters of the states of Karnataka and Gujarat for the Nano plant. It is expected that they will zero in on an alternate site by next week. The Trinamool Congress blamed the West bengal chief minsiter for the pullout of the Tatas from West bengal. 
  KOLKATA, October 1, 2008:  Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s all out efforts to salvage Singur by garnering Congress support in the run-up to his crucial Friday meeting with Ratan Tata has suffered a jolt. On Tuesday, the Congress state leadership declined to sign a resolution adopted during an all-party meeting urging the Tatas and their Nano vendors to resume work in Singur. Instead, the state Congress has backed Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee’s demand that the Buddadeb government first honour its Singur land return agreement of September 7.  The Congress’s refusal came hours after the crucial meeting between Sonia Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee in Dehi on Tuesday afternoon. 
  NEW DELHI, September 30, 2008: CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat said on  Monday that there was little hope of Tata Motors staying on in Singur in the face of the continuing Trinamool Congress agitation. “The Tatas are not willing to resume work if the situation continues to be the same. Despite assurances of adequate security, there has not been much  progress,” Mr. Karat said during an interaction with members of the Indian Women’s Press Corps here. 
  Singur, September 29, 2008: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee will meet UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday seeking Central intervention for the implementations of the September 7 agreement between her party and the West Bengal government on the Singur land issue. Banerjee told reporters she would submit all papers to the UPA chairperson on the agreement that provides for return of maximum land from within the Tata Motors car project site at Singur to  "unwilling" land-losers, signed in the presence of Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi at Raj Bhavan on September 7.
  Kolkata, September 26, 2008 (PTI):  West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Friday requested Tata group chairman Ratan Tata to restart work at its Singur project and assured him of all help by the State administration.   

    Kolkata, September 25, 2008:  Just when it was almost certain that the Tatas were pulling out the Nano project, the West Bengal Cabinet assured help and cooperation to Tata Motors and requested them to change their minds. The West Bengal Cabinet said after a meeting  the Cabinet would appeal to the Tatas as well as to the Opposition for implementation of the project. It also urged the opposition parties to accept the rehabilitation package offered to land-  losers in Singur and cooperate in the implementation of the project.     
   Kolkata, September 24, 2008 (PTI): Tata Motors has moved equipment key to manufacturing 'Nano,' the ultra-cheap car, from its under- construction plant at Singur in West Bengal to another facility in order to meet its roll-out obligation.  Sources familiar with the development said that equipment was carted out from the plant and the cargo is believed to have been moved to the company's plant in Pantnagar in Uttarakhand.   
   KOLKATA, September 22, 2008: Trinamool Congress on Sunday served a week's ultimatum to West Bengal government to accept its demands for returning land of  "unwilling" farmers at Tata Motors' car plant site at Singur or face fresh agitation. On the other hand, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee warned for the first time that the Tatas would leave the state if there was further delay in  accepting the government's rehabilitation package for farmers. 
   KOLKATA, September 21, 2008:  West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Sunday said the Tatas would leave the state if there is any further delay in accepting the new rehabilitation package for Singur farmers. The chief minister, who a day earlier met Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi to inform him that he was open for talks with the Trinamool Congress on the new package, appealed to the opposition parties to withdraw their agitation.  
   Kolkata, September  20, 2008 (PTI): The Centre has no scope for  intervention in the Singur issue, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here today. IT major Infosys has said that the situation at Singur was scary. US-India Business Council also cancelled the visit of the executive mission to Kolkata in view of the political developments at Singur.
  KOLKATA, September 19, 2008: Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu on Friday appealed to Singur agitators to accept the compensation package prepared by the  West Bengal government for the land-losers and allow resumption of work for the Tata Motors small car project. 
   Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee on Friday met the West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi fuelling speculation that the party chief Mamata Banerjee would meet him later in the day.
  KOLKATA, September 18, 2008:  Singur is headed for a showdown yet again. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee says he doesn't want a confrontation, but has categorically ruled out giving more than 70 acres of land from the Nano site. 
  A miffed Mamata Banerjee has threatened to go on the warpath "any day after September 19". So, chances of the Tatas starting operations in Singur seem remote. With the government and the opposition still locking horns over the land issue, the focus rests on Raj Bhavan. All eyes are fixed on governor Gopalkrsihna Gandhi, to see if he can show the way. 
  September 17, 2008: On Tuesday, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee accused the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government of violating the September 7 agreement inked in the presence of governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi. Addressing a massive gathering near the Nano site, Mamata urged the chief minister to honour the agreement at the earliest. She was speaking a day after Left Front’s rally at Singur on Monday.    
  Kolkata, Sept 16, 2008: With Singur land row refusing to die down, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Bannerjee has called for a “march to Singur” on Tuesday. As per the program TC will camp there for three days, till Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi returns back to West Bengal and then decide on whether to revive the agitation. Fresh agitation will be launched if the government fails to “abide by the gentleman’s agreement”  to respond to demands of farmers who have not accepted compensation for their land acquired for the project. The party and its allies had called off its 15-day siege of the project area on the night of September 7. 
  Meanwhile, the Left Front has launched a state-wide campaign in support of the project from Sunday. They even organised a rally at Singur on Monday which was attended by senior Left leaders. 
  September 13, 2008: The talks between West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Friday evening to settle the Singur imbroglio failed to bring out any positive results. Times Now sources say Mamata walked out of the meeting demanding the return of full 300 acres of land in Singur and asking the govt. not to go back on “gentleman’s words”.   
 September 02, 2008: West Bengal’s ruling Left Front Tuesday welcomed Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi’s initiative to expedite the process of dialogue between the opposition Trinamool Congress and the state government to resolve the Singur land row. Meanwhile, work at Tata Motors’ factory at Singur remained suspended for the fourth consecutive working day Tuesday.
  August 29, 2008:  Work comes to a complete halt at Tatas' Nano factory in Singur, with none of the employees turning up for work after Thursday's blockade. Calcutta High Court has stepped in to clear south Bengal's clogged lifeline - Durgapur Expressway - but Mamata Benerjee won't budge an inch. 
  August 24, 2008: Trinamool agitation starts from today and the fate of Nano, the smallest car by Tata will be decided today. Mamta Banerji promised for a peaceful agitation and the chief minister Buddhadeb, too, has appealed for peace.

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