More than big real estate developers, small investors had bigger stakes in Singur, as many had taken loans to buy land in the area.
"We had bought small piece of land opposite the Tata Motor's factory site. We had plans either to build warehouse, hotel or residential complex.
"We even had talks with auto-ancillary vendors here for building a housing complex and had paid Rs 200,000 to an architect. Now we will be ruined if Tatas walk out of the project," said Biswajit Lahiri, manager, Aparna International Ltd.
Image: Policemen at the Nano site in Singur | Photograph: Deepak Chakraborty
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