HYDERABAD: The government will invest Rs 50 crore to set up the country’s biggest high learning Central Institute of Plastics Engineering & Technology (CIPET) campus in Medak.
The proposed facility, which will come up in 20 acres, will have the capacity to train over 5,000 students and is likely to commence operations in the next couple of years.
Hyderabad already boasts of a basic CIPET learning centre that trains 2,750 students. Currently, there are over five high learning CIPET facilities across the country -- one each in Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Lucknow and Kochi.
“We are in the process of purchasing 20 acres land. Once operational, this will be the biggest CIPET high learning centre in the country,” said Ananth Kumar, Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India.
Addressing the gathering at the fifth International Plastics Exhibition here Friday, Kumar said his ministry will pursuade the Planning Commission of India to consider setting up a plastics park in Telangana. It may be recalled that last year, the then UPA government had approved setting up of four plastic parks one each in Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Assam.
“There are over 6,000 units (plastic companies) in and around Hyderabad with a collective business of about Rs 2,500 crore. Telangana eminently deserves one (plastics park),” he said.
Meanwhile, plastics consumption in India stood at about 11.7 million tonnes last year and is expected to touch 20 million tonnes by 2020. Considering the increase in plastics usage, Kumar said, the industry should adopt a ‘Plastic Social Responsibility,’ initiative to process waste. “We are launching a nationwide campaign for waste management. We will set up planst in over 500 cities to convert waste into compost. Similarly, the plastics industry should have a plastic social responsibility drive to process all the waste,” he said.