An obligation made in Singur is being fulfilled in Pune. Months after shifting the Nano plant out of Singur,Tata Motors has resumed the training of 180 youths it had selected from the families whose land the West Bengal government had acquired for the project.
The company has transferred the trainees from Singur to the Engineering Research Centre at its Pune facility,where it is grooming them as skilled hands for the automobile industry. The training involves a 15-month course; the youths had already completed seven months in Singur before the plant was shifted to Sanand in Gujarat.
The shift had enforced a three-month break and lots of uncertainty,which ended last month with the transfer to Pune. They will complete their training in August,though it is not certain that all of them will be absorbed in the Sanand plant.
The uncertainty notwithstanding,the trainees are delighted at the resumption. Our course had stopped when the company decided to move out. But three months later,we were told that the training would continue in Pune, said one of the trainees. They do not wish to be named because they have signed a bond of secrecy with the company.
Yes,there is uncertainty about jobs in Sanand, the trainee said,but we are hoping that the training will help us seek jobs outside as well.
Debasis Roy,head of corporate communications for Tata Motors,would not commit himself to Sanand jobs for the Singur trainees. As of now I can only say that the youths are undergoing training in Pune. After they finish,the company will take an appropriate decision, he said.