From correspondents in West Bengal, India, 10:06 PM IST

West Bengal's Left Front government Tuesday sent a letter to the railway ministry asking it to set up an industry on the plot of land abandoned by Tata Motors in Singur, and promised to cooperate with the project.

'We've sent our proposal to the railways and we've said if they want to set up industries in Singur, they are welcome,' Chief Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty told reporters here.

He said if the railway ministry wants to set up a coach manufacturing unit in Singur, the government would cooperate with it.

Earlier, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee had evinced interest to set up a rail coach factory in collaboration with the state government or on a public-private-partnership (PPP) model at the abandoned Nano project site in Hooghly district's Singur area, about 40 km from Kolkata.

'The state government can give the land. That will be their equity. We can set up the factory. That will be our equity,' Banerjee had said.

Chakraborty said the state had sent the letter to the railways board chairman and also sought details of the proposal from the ministry.

The state government's decision to accept Banerjee's proposal comes after its bid to rope in Chinese automobile major First Automobile Works (FAW) and state-run power equipment manufacturer Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) for setting up industries there failed.

Meanwhile, the state's Leader of the Opposition in Partha Chattopadhyay said: 'It's our party's stand from the day one that we would give back 400 acres to the unwilling farmers. The industries will be set up on the remaining 600 acres.

'The state government has a lot about many other industrial projects but nothing positive has come out so far,' Chattopadhyay, also a leader of the Trinamool Congress.

'Once we get a copy of the letter, we'll take a look. We can only talk about the matter if it materialises.'

Senior Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Muhammad Salim said: 'We wanted manufacturing industries to be set up in Singur. It's good that the railways ministry is interested to set up an industry there. And we are committed to it.'

He added: 'Let's see how fast Mamata Banerjee can set up a project in Singur.'

Tata Motors had abandoned the 997.11-acre site in October last year succumbing to the protest by peasants led by the Trinamool Congress, which demanded the return of 400 acres taken from farmers reportedly unwilling to part with their land.

The company had planned to roll out Nano, the world's least expensive car, from the Singur site, but shifted operations to Gujarat's Sanand after the disturbances. However, the land is still in its possession.

Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata had earlier said if the state government compensated the company for developing the land, it was ready to return it.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)