Defeated Development – The Abandoned Singur Tata Nano Factory

The Quint visited the abandoned Tata Nano factory site at Singur, West Bengal, eight years after the Tatas left.

On 28 September 2008, Ratan Tata declared that the Nano Factory will be moved out of Singur, in Hooghly district, West Bengal. The then CPI(M)-led Left Front government used the 1894 Land Acquisition Act to conduct an eminent domain takeover of 997 acres of farmland for the factory. Many locals and activists opposed the move, leading to an anti-land acquisition movement which propelled Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress into the limelight.