FIRE IN SINGUR TATA FACTORY WHERE NANO SUPPOSED TO COME OUT

TATA NANO FACTORY UNDER FIRE

Under construction Singur plant from where the Nano is supposed to roll out.

The facility in West Bengal's Singur, which would deliver the dream car, could still be a cause of worry for the daring industrialist.

Repeated interruptions in construction work could leave Tata Motors in the lurch in June 2008. That's the company deadline for giving final shape to the plant so that it could roll out its first car by the year-end.

Given the kind of hurdles the project has had to face since inception, meeting the June 2008 deadline is a stiff proposition. Achieving that would be no less a feat for Tata Motors than rolling out the people's car itself.

Ironically, work at the 935-acre site has slowed down considerably, since Thursday - the day Nano was launched.

This time due to protest by a section of security guards owing allegiance to the CPM and are resisting the company's decision to downsize its workforce.

Tata Motors Singur Site temporary worker Sushanta Pramanik says, “I could work for about an hour today. But then the CPM men came with their flags and stopped us."

Severe water logging at the site during last monsoon held up work for about a month.

Work is also yet to reach top gear at the adjacent 290-acre vendor park where 55 ancillary units are supposed to set up shops to feed the mother plant.

And political opposition apart, this could well be the prime source of botheration for Tata Motors.