Palakkad catches ‘Make in India’ fever: Defence Park, IIT, BEML unit coming up

Palakkad was once acclaimed as the `Granary of Kerala’ as it accounted for the largest production of rice in the state. The district can no longer claim that title as farmers abandoned paddy cultivation in the wake of steep rise in input costs, shortage of labour etc and vast expanses of paddy fields passed into the hands of the real estate lobby.

The `Make in India’ initiative by the Narendra Modi Government has given a fresh ray of hope to the district. The first Defence Park in the nation proposed by the Central Government at Ottappalam, the Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) coming up at Pudussery, rail coach factory being set up at Kanjikode, proposed new plant of Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) etc are expected to make Palakkad a new industrial destination.

The Defence Park would manufacture night vision equipment, parachutes, flying suits, diving suits and so on. The products manufactured here can be exported through the Nedumbassery, Coimbatore and Karippur airports and also through the Vallarpadom Container Terminal.

The project is estimated to cost Rs 231 crore, including cost of the land, of which Rs 50 crore will be offered by the Central Government, while the remaining Rs 181 crore will be raised by Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA).

Already BEML, a Mini-Ratna company under the Ministry of Defence, has started two new manufacturing units at Kanjikode with an investment of over Rs.300 crore. For its third phase, 600 acres of land has been acquired adjacent to its existing units. The work on the construction of the new unit would begin shortly.

The Central Government’s decision to sanction an IIT in Palakkad marks the realisation of Kerala’s long-cherished dream to have an institution of higher learning in the state. The state narrowly missed an opportunity to get an All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS).

The proposed IIT in Palakkad will start functioning from its temporary campus at Walayar by the next academic year beginning June. Proceedings are under way to acquire 650 acres of land in the Pudussery panchayat to set up the permanent campus of IIT.

IIT Madras has been chosen as the mentor institute for the Palakkad IIT. IITM will be involved in setting up infrastructure, faculty, and ensuring the quality of education at the new institute. In the beginning, 120 undergraduate students will be enrolled in the Palakkad IIT. The authorities are yet to decide on the disciplines to be started here.

Palakkad IIT, together with the new Government Medical College in Palakkad, the foundation stone for which was laid by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy the other day, will give a thrust to the educational development of the district and the state as a whole. The new medical college is the first such institution to be set up in the country under the Scheduled Caste-Scheduled Tribes Department.

The work on the Kanjikode Rail Coach Factory, lying in limbo for several years, is expected to begin this year, thanks to the push given by the `Make in India’ campaign. The state has already acquired and handed over the land for the Rs 514 crore project envisaged in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The Kanjikode Coach Factory would be the second one in South India after the Perambur Coach Factory near Chennai. It would bring an industrial boom, as nearly 100 ancillary units would come up to supply equipments to the factory. It would also be a boon for the nearly 50 steel manufacturing units functioning in the Kanjikode industrial area.

An integrated Textile Park, constructed by KINFRA on a 300-acre plot in Kanjikode, to house major textile units has also started functioning. The proximity of Palakkad to the industrial city of Coimbatore and the textile city of Tirupur is an added advantage to the Textile Park.

All these projects are expected to give employment to thousands of people directly and indirectly.

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