Vinay Kumar
TRICHY: Trichy’s second Sipcot industrial park in Thiruverumbur is likely to be picked for the Centre’s Bhavya (Bharat Audyogik Vikas Yojna), a scheme from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) promoting 100 investment-ready plug and play industrial parks near major cities across the country. Preliminary discussions and industry reach out initiatives have begun for utilizing the Thiruverumbur industrial park for the defence and aerospace sector, a move to diversify the industrial ecosystem in Trichy, one of the nodes of Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor.“Opinions were sought from the industries to consider Thiruverumbur and adjoining areas to develop a dedicated defence and aerospace production hub. Global warfare has changed. The Israel-Iran conflict has shown the importance of modern drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Thiruverumbur will be a good choice for the aerospace sector,” Ramprakash G B, president of Valavanthankottai Industrial Manufacturer Association & Network (Vimaan) said. Both central and state govts, through consultants, are in discussions with local MSMEs to scale the capacity and requirement of defence and aerospace production in Trichy region. Apart from utilizing the 148.9 acres of Sipcot land in Elandapatti and Suriyur villages near Thiruverumbur, govt land in areas abutting Ordnance Factory Trichy (OFT) and High Energy Projectile Factory (HEPF), Trichy, are also considered to groom deep-tech startups into developing advanced drones and UAVs for capitalizing the global demand, sources said. “More than 20 MSMEs are already into the defence and aerospace sector in the Thiruverumbur region. Presence of institutions like NIT Trichy and Sastra University near Thiruverumbur will be helpful for investors,” N Kanagasabapathy, an industrialist from Trichy, said. Official sources have acknowledged that a study has been completed for a defence and aerospace-related hub in Thiruverumbur. An official announcement is expected soon.
