Niira and Tata

http://www.mynews.in/News/nira_radia_ratan_tata_tapes_full_transcription_N113860.html




DATE 7 July 2009 TIME 20:29:07



Ratan TATA: Hi.



Niira RADIA: Hi. You’ve got the media chasing me on Mr Tata being approached for becoming the chairman of the international advisory committee for Air India?



TATA: It’s true. Nothing has happened. He did come to see me.



RADIA: Praful?



TATA: No, no, the current CEO.



RADIA: Jhadav, yeah. He’s Praful’s henchman.



TATA: Is he?



RADIA: Completely. He’s been brought in to safeguard the Boeing deal.



TATA: Oh really?



RADIA: So they put out a story saying that, you know, they’re trying to build credibility right now. I got a call from Times of India saying that Mr Tata has been approached. I said I have no comment to make.



TATA: Yeah, I think that’s what you should keep saying till we hear anything.



RADIA: They are going to run the story in any case because Praful has gone on record to say that you’ve been approached.



TATA: Let him go on record.



RADIA: We’ll just maintain ‘no comment’.



TATA: Yeah, yeah.



RADIA: Yeah, yeah. I’ll do that. I’ll maintain ‘no comment’. Yeah, I’ll do that. You landed in London?



TATA: No I’m sitting on the ground in Tel Aviv.



RADIA: Oh gosh! What happened?



TATA: The plane is two hours late. We’re all in the plane.



RADIA: Oh, dear me. Oh, gosh. Oh dear me. I’m sorry. You should fly in your own plane.



....



RADIA: Okay. There’s a programme tomorrow, right?



TATA: But I think that’s in London.



RADIA: Oh, it’s in London, okay, okay.



RATAN TATA: Yeah.



RADIA: Okay, alright.



TATA: It’s a bloody black tie affair.



RADIA: It’s a black tie affair? Gosh.



TATA: You know how much I love those.



RADIA: Oh, you should have invited me. I could have worn my black gown. (Both chuckle)



TATA: You could have worn your black gown and gone in my place. I hate black tie affairs.



RADIA: I never get a chance to wear my black gown, Ratan.



TATA: We’ll make some occasion for you in Bombay.



RADIA: Yeah, because I have got this Roberto Cavalli gown, which I never get a chance to wear.



TATA: It’s a what?



RADIA: I have this Roberto Cavalli gown which I never get a chance to…



TATA: Is it in Bombay or London?



RADIA: No, I’ve got it lying, you know, with me in Delhi, so I can go wherever with it, but I never get a chance to wear it.



TATA: Well then, you wear it when you meet Hillary Clinton or or whom could I suggest who would be a befitting person to…



RADIA: (laughs) No. I’ll wear it when you next wear a black tie, or… you call me.



TATA: Okay

Journalist involved in land dealings

C Shivakumar
Perambalur:

He was a hero turned villain for villagers of Naranamangalam villagers in Perambalur district whose land were acquired for the Rs 900 crore Green Field Unit for passenger and truck radials in the village.



It was Senthil Murugan, a former Netrikan journalist, who opposed the MRF project when it was proposed by writing fiery articles against former Union Telecom Minister A Raja. But then all of a sudden, Murugan, now a journalist with Murasoli, joined the opposite flank and was allegedly the one who was the brain behind the acquisition of land from villagers.



Villagers while highlighting some of the articles written by him questioning the project said he sold them out to Raja. “He was the one who brokered the meeting with Raja and when we turned down the minister’s offer, he was instrumental in threatening us to part with the land,” says Senthil Kumar, who was booked in a fictitous case for 13 days under the SC/ ST Act. He was released after he signed the deal at the sub-registrar office at 9 pm on the 13th day of his detention.



When Express contacted Murugan in the village he said there was nothing wrong in the land deal and questioned why the villagers are raking up the issue after three years.



Murugan said, “The real land value was less than Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000. They should be grateful that due to MRF they got a good price.” He also dismissed the allegations of villagers and said that someone is instigating the villagers against him.



As he was giving his version to Express, an angry mob gheraoed him and said he was telling lies forcing Murugan to flee from the place along with the reporter. He was again abused by the villagers whose tempers frayed as they put forth certain documents stating his involvement in the whole issue. “He is a cheat. He cheated us when we believed him to be our own,” said a villager.



And this anger could sum up the feeling of more than 160 families whose land has been procured for the MRF project. Among those are dalits as well as members from other communities who now have to look outside the village to eke out their hand to mouth existence. Some of the villagers were given a raw deal after they sold their land to Green House Promoters, a firm owned by A Raja’s family members and aides.



Some were paid as less as Rs 32,000 to Rs one lakh for the per acre of land by officials of Green House Promoters, with whom MRF has entered into a deal to procure the land for their Rs 900 crore Green Field unit for Passenger and truck radials in the state. “The land was then sold back to MRF by the officials of the real estate firm for Rs 4.35 lakh officially,” villagers said, claiming the real estate firm would have sold it at much higher rate to MRF.



“I had immense trust in Union Telecom Minister A Raja as being a dalit he will understand our problems. When I was forced to sell my land by Green House Promoters. I thought I will get a good deal as the minister is from our community. Unfortunately, he also exploited us,” said Maniraj, who got Rs one lakh for his one acre of land.



“Once I sold my land for Rs one lakh, the brokers approached me in my home and demanded Rs 25,000 to be paid back as they have spent the amount on transferring the records from my grandmother’s name to my mother’s name,” said Maniraj.



Maniraj is among the rest of the dalits who don’t have any source of income and are feeding on the money which they got as compensation from the land. Some are migrating to far off cities like Trichy for a job in the unorganized sector, some are still mulling over their bleak future.



Most of the men are hardly educated beyond eighth standard and some illiterate and use only thumb impression and that proved as a boon to the Green House Promoters officials as well as the district officials to exploit them.



In another case, Paramasivan, another dalit farmer, says he was forced to part with his six acre land for Rs 5.5 lakh. However, he had to allegedly part with Rs 1.25 lakh of the deal after he was being threatened by the brokers. But Murugan, a journalist turned land broker for the real estate firm, denied the allegations. “It was the problem between the brothers. We solved the issue,” he says.

Raja used state machinery to procure land of villagers

C Shivakumar

Perambalur:

The state machinery was used to procure the land in Naranamangalam Village in Perambalur district after villagers allegedly spurned the offer of former Union telecom minister A Raja to give their land for a MRF project, according to a signed petition by the villagers.



Villagers told Express after they refused the district administration to acquire the land in 2007, they were summoned by then Union Telecom Minister A Raja immediately who urged them to sell their land to MRF and said the new plant will provide jobs for them besides they could get a good price from the company.



But villagers refused to heed to his demand and said the land is all they have got to support their livelihood. Following this Raja allegedly threatened them that he will get the land with the help of the state machinery and they will be paid only the sum that the government will decide.



And then the ordeal for villagers began as Green House Promoters, owned by Raja’s aide and family members, entered into the scene. Police vehicles began plying into the villages as the villagers were picked up and taken to the Superintendent of Police office or the district collector’s office and were asked to transfer the title deed to Green House Promoters. A few of them were even arrested by using the SC/ST act and then were released abruptly for lack of evidence once the title deed was transferred to Green House Promoters. What is more, even the women were intimidated by the authorities to sign documents following the non-availability of their men-folk in the country.



When Express contacted district collector M Vijay Kumar, he said there might have been some instances where force may have been used. “I am ordering an enquiry into this and action against the erring officials as well as the real estate officials will be taken,” he added.



However, he ruled out that land would be handed back to villagers. “This is a good project for the district which is dry and backward. More than 435 acres of land has been procured for the MRF for starting Greenfield Unit for Passenger and Truck Radials in Tamil Nadu besides another 150 acres for Trial track. The production is expected to take place in April or May next year,” he added.



He also questioned the reason for raising the three-year-old issue was being raised now. “Why haven’t they registered a complaint then. Now I think they want more compensation for their land,” he added. But the villagers shot back, “Do you think the district administration will take our complaint and take immediate action when they themselves are hunting us down and forcing us to give up our land,” they alleged.



The villagers on Monday also faxed in a signed petition to the prime minister and the National Human Rights Commission to intervene in the matter immediately and take immediate action against Raja, Batcha, then district collector Anil Meshram, then superintendent of police Prem Anand Sinha and other officials