West Bengal starts talks to end Tata car plant protests

By Sujoy Dhar

KOLKATA, India (Reuters)- Officials in West Bengal began negotiations with opposition politicians on Wednesday to end protests against a Tata Motors factory building the Nano, billed the world's cheapest car.

The 100,000-rupee ($2,380) snub-nosed Nano was unveiled in January to a popstar reception, but violent protests and political opposition against land seizures for the factory in the state threatened to delay its long-awaited launch.

Protesters have occasionally tried to stop work at the factory and fought with workers. An engineer had to be taken to hospital after his car was stoned last month.

West Bengal's communist government began talking to leaders of Trinamool Congress, the state's main opposition, which has been championing a movement by farmers unwilling to give their land.

"We have got a letter from the Tatas as well for a solution," Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool's chief, said.

State government officials said Wednesday's talks could set the stage for a tripartite meeting soon between the government, Trinamool and Tata.

Tata Motors, a unit of conglomerate Tata group, plans to launch the Nano later this year from its new factory at a 1,000-acre (400-ha) complex in Singur, a cluster of villages near Kolkata.

The protests that Tata faces reflect a larger stand-off between industry in India and farmers unwilling to part with land in a country where two-thirds of a billion-plus population depend on agriculture.