BHUBANESHWAR: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today requested prime minister Narendra Modi to set up dedicated defence industry corridor and aeronautical university in Odisha.
“Odisha provides a comprehensive ecosystem and state-of-the-art industrial infrastructure facilities for indigenous design, development and manufacturing in defence and aerospace sector,” the chief minister said in a letter to the prime minister.
Odisha is the largest producer of steel, stainless and aluminium in the country with availability of defence and aerospace grade products from the mother plants of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), Tata Steel, Hindalco industries and the National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), the chief minister said while listing some of the key competitive advantages of the state.
Naveen said the existing manufacturing, O&M, testing and research ecosystem in the form of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)'s Aero Engine Facility at Koraput, the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, the DRDO Laboratory at Balasore and the Ordnance Factory at Bolangir also puts Odisha in an advantageous position.
Stating that more than 1,00,000 acres of industrial land bank and dedicated industrial region exist to support downstream industries in aerospace and defence sector, the chief minister said there is a large pool of skilled manpower and presence of national institutes of higher learning such as IIT, NIT, IIM, IIIT, NISER and XIMB in the state.
"The state is also in advanced stages of promulgating a dedicated defence and aerospace manufacturing policy to promote cluster based development of the industry," he said and added that in view of these unique advantages in the state, the overall cost of production of defence and aerospace products would be very competitive.
Naveen requested the prime minister to set up a dedicated defence industry corridor in Odisha in this context. He also requested that the proposed aeronautical university be set up in collaboration with the HAL could be considered in Odisha to further strengthen the skill and research and development ecosystem.
Stating that Odisha government is committed towards the national vision of achieving self-reliance in defence and aerospace design and production, he said the state would ensure unmatched support for quick and successful establishment of both the defence industry corridor and aeronautical university.