On world's cheapest car

Sweet revenge for Gujarat

Nayan Dave | TNN 

Rajkot: By snatching the Nano plant, Gujarat has paid West Bengal back in its own coin. Given the strange ways in which history plays itself out, in 1948 Hindustan Motors had shifted its assembling plant for Ambassador from Okha in Jamnagar to Uttar Para in West Bengal. 

Sixty years after the politicians’ chariot drove from Gujarat to West Bengal, the ‘Lakhtakia’ common man’s car has driven from West Bengal to Gujarat. Manshukh Barai, 66, former sarpanch of Okha, says the assembling plant was initiated by CK Birla group in 1942 with cars being exported to some Asian countries apart from the Indian market. “In 1948, the Birla group decided to manufacture the car indigenously and shifted Okha plant to West Bengal because it provided cheaper raw material — iron and steel,” he says. Also, Rajkot was not an engineering hub then. 

The land and general manager’s bungalow, which alone is spread over 50,000 square feet, is today owned by Rajkot’s Davda family. Dipak Davda, a customs clearance agent and one of the owners of the property, says his father Tulsidas Davda had purchased the plant from Hindustan Motors when Birlas moved out. The general manager’s bungalow, a heritage property, has been rented to coast guards while the land has been rented to industrial units. 

Interestingly, Okha was part of Amreli district then which was under the erstwhile Baroda state. Sayajirao Gaekwad, who was the king, had wooed Birlas to set up the plant at Okha. “The Ambassador plant was just an assembling unit. When it left, it did not have any major economic impact on the region,” Davda adds.“It is a strange feeling to see history being played out in reverse. We are very happy to see Nano driving into Gujarat.” 

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