Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

ON FAST LANE: The Managing Director of Tata Motors, Ravi Kant (right), and Principal Secretary, Industry and Commerce, West Bengal, Sabyasachi Sen, addressing media persons in Kolkata on Friday.

KOLKATA: A day after the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee-led Left Front won a massive mandate in West Bengal, the Managing Director of Tata Motors Ltd (TML), Ravi Kant, came calling to discuss investments and their possible locations.

Even as the Chief Minister told reporters at the state secretariat that a Tata automobile unit was "almost final," his Industry Minister, Nirupam Sen, said four sites had been shown to the Tatas and they were likely to set up either a small car unit or any other unit at a chosen location. He said a final response was likely within the next fortnight. Land measuring around 500 acres had been offered near Dankuni in Hooghly district, at Uluberia and Sankrail in Howrah district and near Kharagpur in East Midnapur, close to the Tata Metaliks pig iron plant and TML's Jamshedpur automobile unit.

Mr. Sen said Ratan Tata had rung up Mr. Bhattacharjee on Thursday, to congratulate him on the Left Front victory. The Tata Sons Chairman is slated to visit the city next week.

Mr. Ravi Kant who was accompanied by R. S. Thakur, Vice-President (Finance), M. B. Kulkarni, Assistant General Manager-Commercial Vehicles (Construction), and A. S. Puri, Deputy General Manager, government affairs and collaboration, said his visit was primarily aimed at congratulating the chief minister.

He said West Bengal was under active consideration of the Tata group's proposal for setting up an automobile plant and it was one of the five states shortlisted.

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