A year ago, Ms.Mamta Banerjee took to the streets the protest against the entry of Tata into the West Bengal for its plant at Singur. Now, the time has changed that the Union Minister for Railways in good spirit to fuel her ministry with fresh proposals of inviting automobile manufacturers in the country to initiate the hub and ancillary units at the site and sight of these logistics – railways, from two locations in West Bengal.
Partnering private parties, the Railways has chalked out its plan for constructing 10 auto hubs for transiting the products from the manufacturing units to distributors. The land will be provided by the ministry in which the private players may erect necessary infrastructure. Further developmental facilities will be provided time to time. The Minister is understood to have expressed the state of unemployment and the constraints of her ministry in this regard. In all, the ministry is willing to provide 112,000 acres of land for this purpose and foundation for the first such hub was laid by her at Shalimar near Kolkata.
Six companies including Tata Motors, represented the event and could listen to the flexible mood from the Minister about cheap labor and government back up. This clarion’s call is a contra to what she mulled last year over the acquisition of land in Singur by Tata Motors for its Nano plant.The current volume of transportation in automobiles by railways is 2% and it is projected that the opening of such hubs would yield the increase to 15% by accruing an income of Rs1000 crore per year.
The move is a joint effort, going on for the last two years, between the Railways Ministry and the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. Such a move was in the air even before Ms.Mamta became Minister. Transportation of two, three and four-wheelers is the main agenda under this scheme.