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KOLKATA, India : Talks to end violent protests over a factory in eastern India to manufacture the world's cheapest car ended Saturday with no breakthrough.
But West Bengal's opposition Trinamool Congress party, which has been spearheading opposition to the plant, was hopeful an agreement could be reached in further talks with the Marxist state government.
It said a new round of discussions might be held either Sunday or Monday in hopes of clinching an agreement.
"Talks are fruitful. We need more talks to reach a conclusion," Partha Chatterjee, a senior Trinamool Congress leader, told reporters.
The opponents of the Nano plant claim farmers were forcibly evicted by the state government to make way for the facility and are demanding that land be returned.
"Our discussion touches return of land and a meaningful package for all farmers whose land was acquired for the project," Chatterjee said.
There was no immediate comment from the government on the talks with farmers' representatives and opposition parties.
But West Bengal industry minister Nirupam Sen said before entering the discussions that the government was "offering a package that will help all farmers whose land was acquired."
Sen said he was hopeful of concluding a deal in the talks that began on Friday.
The discussions over the plan by India's giant Tata Group to make the ultra-cheap car in the impoverished state were chaired by West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, a grandson of Indian independence icon Mahatma Gandhi.
The government had energetically wooed Tata Motors, part of the tea-to-steel Tata Group, to set up the plant in the state. It is hoping the factory could lead the way for the state's industrial resurgence and create new jobs.
Tata Motors, India's largest vehicle maker which shot to international prominence when it bought British motoring icons Jaguar and Land Rover earlier this year, did not attend the talks.
Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata warned last month he would move the plant out of West Bengal if the demonstrations continued, even though Tata Motors has poured 350 million dollars into the project.
The plant in Singur is 90 percent complete, and Tata Motors has said it aims to launch the Nano in October.
Protests have been going on for two years against the plant. But demonstrations worsened in the past few weeks, with protesters besieging the factory and threatening workers.
Tata Motors can produce the Nano at its other plants, but mass production could be set back by a year if it has to build a factory elsewhere, analysts said.
Scrapping the plant would also hit its finances, already under pressure from its 2.3-billion-dollar acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover and slowing domestic vehicle sales.
The stand-off reflects a wider dispute between farmers and industry over land rights across the nation.
On one side are many farmers who say they will starve without their land, while business and government say India must industrialise swiftly to create jobs for the army of young people joining the work force.
The Nano, with its innovative lightweight engineering, was conceived by Ratan Tata to get poor Indians off motorcycles and into safer cars.
Business leaders have warned the hostile reception to the plant could hurt India's image as an emerging economic superpower and viable investment destination.
- AFP /ls
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