Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's plan for an indefinite blockade at the Singur plant of Tata Motors from August 24 has generated serious concerns among the industry and business lobby here.

Right now, Tata Motors is racing against time to meet the October deadline for Nano. Should Mamata insist on a showdown, the company's time frame may go haywire. Industrialists say that this would reflect badly on the overall business environment in West Bengal and as a result, not only the Tatas, others would suffer too.

The state Government, the industry, and Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee have all, in the past weeks, made repeated appeals to Mamata to sort out differences through negotiation and not upset the progress of the plant which might jeopardise the interests of the state. On Monday, the CM invited her for talks and again stressed the importance of the project for the state.

The industry is also trying to put an indirect pressure on her. On August 19, it will be a rare occasion, when responding to the invitation from several chambers of commerce - representing a cross section of industry in Bengal - Mamata will participate in an interactive session.

The Trinamool chief, however, is in no mood to let go of the land issue with Lok Sabha elections round the corner. Her party's Singur Krishi Jami Raksha Committee is preparing for a show of strength with 200,000 people and 21 points of blockade along the Tata Motors plant. Mamata is demanding that Tata and the state Government return 400 acres of land for which farmers have not taken their compensation. This land, she claims, the company has in excess of its requirement.

"We will organise a peaceful agitation near the plant. It will be a continuous agitation. It is the state Government which is inciting violence. Recently, the state Home Secretary went to Singur and said that he will arrest farmers," she said, when asked whether the agitation would be peaceful or not.

Her party has constructed 21 makeshift stages across the boundary wall of the Tata Motors site and along the Durgapur Expressway. "We are expecting 200,000 supporters to turn up from different districts, apart from the farmers of Singur," said Becharam Manna, convenor of Singur Save Farmland Committee. Members of the Committee said there are chances of people storming the project site during the agitation, "If people get emotional, what can we do? We can only request them to show restraint. If the police use force, we will not sit idle," said Manna. The party plans to block workers from entering the site, thus thwarting the project work.

Last week, the TMC and Save Farmland Committee organised a number of meetings in Singur and other districts to garner support for the agitation. The party is bullish because of its success in Singur in the recent panchayat elections.

Out of the 16 village panchayats in Singur, TMC has won 15. In the last elections it had won only four. It has also increased its tally from 12 seats, last time, to 37 in panchayat samitis. The party has won all the three zilla parishad seats in Singur. Naturally, it is time for Mamata and her supporters to flex some muscles.

Meanwhile, officials working at the Tata plant fear that hundreds of daily labourers might flee the site and that would slowdown the work and would pose a serious problem. Apart from a sustained agitation, the TMC-led panchayat samiti is likely to stop giving out licenses to the ancillary units, which would further create problems for the functioning of the plant. According to officials at the plant, the company may bring in components from outside, if the ancillary plant is not ready within the given time frame.

On July 29, members of the Singur Krishi Jami Raksha Committee beat up an engineer of the construction agency. Violence and intimidation also drove out a number of workers from the plant site.

"Two weeks back only 40 per cent of the workers were available at the plant, following disturbances. Last week, the attendance jumped to 65 per cent. We are holding regular meetings to review the security situation," said Prasenjit Chattopadhyay, BDO of Singur and a member of the state Government's monitoring team.

The local CPI(M) leaders, backing the project, are hopeful that Nano will meet its deadline, but are not so sure whether the entire project will be ready by October. "Tata's mother plant will be ready, considering the current pace of work, but the entire project may not meet the deadline. The ancillary units are yet to pick up," said Dibakar Das, district CPI(M) leader.

"According to Tata Motors' report, submitted to us last week, 75 per cent of the work is over. With the current pace they are expected to meet the October deadline, provided there is no disruptions inside the plant. But there are problems pertaining to the ancillary units. Out of the 35 which were given licences, 17 are in various stages of construction. We do not expect them to start operating on time and be ready for the October-November deadline," said the BDO. "The work for engine shop, paint shop is complete. There are six big shades which are also complete," he added.

The state Government and plant authorities are gearing up for August 24 agitation. Following the on-the-spot assessment by the state Home Secretary, Ashok Mohan Chakrabarti, and the state Director General of police, A B Vohra, security inside and around the 997.11 acres plant has been upgraded. Armed policemen and RAF personnel are manning the entry points and guarding the periphery wall of the plant. The local administration and plant authorities also plan to arrange for the stay of the labourers inside the site so that they are not harassed during the agitation.