Major real estate sector investors here had bought land in and around Singur in the last two years, in anticipation of rapid development of the entire Hooghly district, said property consultants.

Singur was only one part of the double blow suffered by the district. Another mega township project by DLF Ltd, at Dankuni about 25km away from Singur at an estimated investment of Rs 33,000 crore over about 5,000 acre, was also in limbo and this had added to the woes of the developers who planned to invest in Hooghly. For example South City consortium, a major real estate development group backed by companies like Emami, had planned to develop 200 acres to house small scale industries together with the West Bengal Small Industries Development Corporation at Dankuni too.

The project was conceived two years ago, in keeping with the anticipated development of small scale industries in Singur with the Nano plant operational in the area. Till date. about 50 acres had been acquired in the area, said sources.

"The exit of Nano project will definitely impact our project for small scale industries and we have been forced to rethink about the viability of the project. While it is a big setback for industries here, at the same time, one should know that local small scale industries always existed in Singur," said sources in South City.