PCFS TO TATA: LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE'S VOICES!

Please find below the letter sent to Tata Motors on 26 September 2006. To date, no reply has been given by Tata.

26 September 2006

Mr. Ratan N Tata
Chairman – am@tatamotors.com
Tata Motors

Attention: Mr. Ravi Kant, Managing Director - rbc@tatamotors.com
Mr. Debasis Ray, Head of Corporate Communications - debasis.ray@tatamotors.com

Dear Mr. Tata,

Greetings!

It is with deep concern that we are writing about the situation of the farming communities in West Bengal, India which are about to be displaced by Tata's investment on September 27, 2006.

The government of West Bengal is set to evict 20,000 small farmers and other food producers from their 1,253 hectares fertile land in Singur Hooghly District to give way to the construction plant of Tata Motors.

This is alarming as the rural poor communities of Singur are heavily dependent on their land for their lives and livelihood. This multi-crop land, which is home to the people of Singur for many generations, yields 8,000 to 9,000 tons of rice, wheat, jute and other food crops annually. This provides the people food, income and life with dignity. It would therefore be a tragic loss for them if the land that they have tilled for the past many years will be forcibly taken away from them.

On September 4-6, 2006, the People's Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS), Pesticide Action Network (PAN AP), Asian Peasants Coalition (APC), Institute for Motivating Self Employment (IMSE), and other international groups, have conducted a Fact Finding Mission (FFM) to look into the struggles of the communities. The findings of the fact finding mission is loud and clear: the people of Singur do not want to give up their land.

Together with other NGOs, peoples organisations and individuals, we have sent letters expressing our concern for the communities' situation. The letters were sent to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights as well as to the government of West Bengal. To date, we have gathered more than 1,000 signatures from India and around the globe supporting the communities' plight (www.foodsov.org/html/takeaction05.htm).

We urge you to uphold Tata's core value of responsibility as stated in your published materials on corporate responsibility:

"We must continue to be responsible, sensitive to the countries, communities and environments in which we work, always ensuring that what comes from the people goes back to the people many times over."

Tata's core value of responsibility should therefore respect the demands of the people of Singur to:

1. Allow the peasants in Singur to continue their agricultural activities;
2. Respect the communities' decision to keep their land and to listen to their clamor for a community-led agricultural development plan.
3. Stop any forced and violent eviction until a genuine participatory and transparent process of decision-making on this land acquisition is implemented and the strategies for an adequate and equitable land compensation plan, social and cultural resettlement and rehabilitation are in place.
4. Look into other non-agricultural land as a viable alternative for the construction of Tata's infrastructure facility.

We trust that Tata would reconsider its decision regarding this investment in Singur and respect the rights of the people to keep their land and livelihood.

Sincerely,

Gilbert Sape
Programme Coordinator
PAN AP and PCFS

P.O. Box 1170, Penang 10850, Malaysia
Tel: 604-6570271 or 604-6560381
Fax: 604-6583960
E-mail: panap@panap.net or gilbert.sape@panap.net
Home Page: www.panap.net