Farmers protest against Nano car in West Bengal

Hundreds of angry farmers marched in West Bengal on Monday to protest against a factory making what is billed as the world's cheapest car, one of several protests against farmland seizures, officials said.

Thousands of other protesters, mainly members of the Trinamool Congress, the main opposition party in the communist-ruled state, remained outside the Singur factory for a second day to protest against the project.

Tata Motors is building the factory in West Bengal to roll out the Nano -- the $2,380, snub-nosed "people's car" -- but months of protests against acquisition of farmland have threatened the project.

Tata Motors head Ratan Tata has threatened to move the plant if violent protests continue and its scheduled launch in October could also be delayed.

"We will continue our stir till we get back our land," 70-year-old Laxman Das, a farmer who lost two acres (0.8 hectares) of land to the factory, told local television.

More than 2,500 police guarded the car plant.

The protests reflect a larger stand-off between industry in India and farmers unwilling to part with land in a country where two thirds of the billion-plus population depend on agriculture.

The Trinamool Congress has set up 21 camps to shelter protesters for days and refused to budge from its demands that 400 acres (160 hectares) of land be returned to farmers.

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Monday invited Mamata Banerjee, chief of the Trinamool Congress, for another round of talks to settle the issue.

The government said it was impossible to return land to the farmers but it was willing to consider a proper rehabilitation package and even identify farmland for them.

On Monday, about 80 percent of the 4,000-odd employees turned up for work at the Singur factory, a Tata Motors spokesman said.

"I am confident everything will resolve and the car will roll out in October," said Sandipan Chakravortty, managing director of Tata Ryerson Ltd, a joint venture company owned by Tata Steel and Ryerson Inc of the United States.

Tata Ryerson is investing 1 billion rupees ($23 million) for a process steel unit in Singur.

For Tata Motors, India's top vehicle maker, the trouble started after the state's communist government took over farmland for the factory.

The state offered compensation in return, but some villagers refused to obey and are declining compensation.