Farmers turn Tata Motors to new options

Kolkata, India -- Tata Motors said it is considering new sites for production of the Nano – billed as the world's cheapest car – after violent protests in West Bengal, India.

West Bengal farmers have said the company acquired the 400-acre site about 30 miles north of Calcutta site from "unwilling" farmers, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported Tuesday.

Farmers have said they didn't ask the company to leave the area, although they have asked for return of the 400 acres.

Protests Tata called "hostile and intimidating" have halted construction at the site, the BBC reported.

The plant is scheduled to produce the $2,500 Nano. But, "there is no way this plant could operate efficiently unless the environment became congenial and supportive of the project," a Tata company spokesman told the BBC.

Local leaders called the protest "irresponsible" leading to the loss of a potential economic boom for the area, the report said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.