Already fighting against a plethora of corruption charges with its back against the wall there was yet another jolt for the West Bengal Government with a three-member arbitration tribunal on Monday directing the State to pay Rs 766 crore to the Tata Motors as compensation for losses the company incurred on account of the botched
Tata Nano project at Singur.
The Singur land movement against the then Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Government and the Tatas had catapulted Banerjee to power by dislodging a three-decade old Marxist regime in the State.
The Tatas can recover the sum with 11 per cent interest from September 1, 2016 onwards. In addition to the compensation the Tribunal has also ordered the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation to pay Rs 1 crore to the Tatas for as cost of proceedings
Following a sustained movement and blockade and a subsequent court case the Tatas had to shift out of the Singur land after having constructed a mammoth car plant. This, in the wake of a long-drawn legal battle which the Tatas lost on technical grounds. The Tatas by then had invested more than Rs 1,000 on the plant which was later pulled down by the TMC government.
