JAIPUR: Not to be left behind in what could now be termed the "Nano car race' among the States, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has offered land and all "necessary logistic support' to the Tata group to wheel in the small car project to this desert State after the company's threat to pull out of Singur in West Bengal.

Rajasthan is the fourth State to invite the Tatas for setting up the car unit after Maharashtra, Punjab and Orissa.

Mosquito repellents used by policemen on night patrol along the expressway. (Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya)

New Delhi, Aug. 25: If the Bengal government wants to return some of the Singur land to the original owners, it can bypass the legal difficulties by enacting a law in the Assembly, legal experts say.

One reason the state has cited to reject Mamata Banerjee's demand to hand back 400 acres to unwilling landlosers is that the law doesn't allow return of acquired land.

Press Trust Of India / New Delhi August 26, 2008, 0:12 IST

The Mumbai SEZ, promoted by Jai Corp, expects to complete the land acquisition by next year.

"Currently, the land acquisition for the SEZ is in the process and is expected to be completed by next year,' Jai Corp said in its latest annual report.

Mumbai SEZ received the in-principle approval from the Union Commerce Ministry for the development of a 5,000-hectare SEZ at Khopta in Maharashtra.

Bs Reporter / Kolkata August 26, 2008, 0:37 IST

Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee today rejected a fresh invitation from West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for talks to break the deadlock at the upcoming Tata Motors' Nano plant at Singur near here.

Banerjee started an indefinite dharna at Singur on Sunday, demanding that the 400 acres taken from "unwilling farmers' for the project should be returned to them. The company can instead be given 500 acres of land nearby, she has said.

Jayati Ghosh

Nandini Sen Gupta NEW DELHI

THE Tata Motors top management has reportedly indicated internally that the company will pull the plug on Singur if the situation does not improve in the next fortnight. Sources said even though the company can dismantle its Singur plant and install it somewhere else, it will lose Rs 100-200 crore on account of expenses incurred in laying the foundation, besides the inevitable delay in fullscale production of the Nano.

Sri Lanka is preparing to implement a national policy on appropriation of land in the country.
The Deputy Director of Planning of Land Policies at the Ministry of Land and Land Development, D.A. Jayananda says unsystematic land utilization has created many environmental problems in Sri Lanka and reduced the productivity of many lands cultivated with tea, coconut, rubber or any other cash crops significantly.

Saubhadra Chatterji & Nistula Hebbar / New Delhi August 26, 2008, 0:54 IST

It was proposed as a panacea for all land acquisition disputes and agitations accompanying industrial development in India.

The amended Land Acquisition Act, 1894, pending before a parliamentary committee, will in all likelihood see the light of day whenever the monsoon session of Parliament is called.

At a meeting of the standing committee on rural development today, it was decided that the last hurdle, the report on the Bill, would be finalised by September 3-5.

Business Standard / New Delhi August 25, 2008, 0:57 IST

Shishir Prashant / Dehra Dun August 25, 2008, 5:58 IST

Tata Motors may be facing an uncertain future over its Nano project in West Bengal.

But in Uttarakhand, the auto major is seeking concession on lease rent as well as some more land from the state government in the Pantnagar industrial estate, where it has a manufacturing facility for Ace trucks.

Official sources today said the company has demanded that the lease rent for its 1,000-acre industrial plot should be lowered to Re 1 per sq metre from the present rate of Rs 5.