Responding to Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s personal initiative, the Central Government has sanctioned two Common Facility Centers (CFCs) worth Rs 30 crore to facilitate industrial development in the state.
The CFCs were approved by the Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) at a meeting held at New Delhi under the chairmanship of MSME Secretary Arun Kumar Panda, where the Punjab Government was represented by the state Industries and Commerce director DPS Kharbanda.
While one CFC for manufacturing oil expellers would be established at ludhiana, the other would be a Foundary and General Engineering cluster at Phagwara, according to an official spokesperson. To be developed at a cost of Rs 15 crore each, the two CFCs would become operational within 24 months.
The oil expeller manufacturing CFC, which would be instrumental in boosting the export potential from Rs 100 crore to Rs 250 crore annually, will generate employment for 2000 to 3500 persons.
The Phagwara centre, the first of its kind in North India, will produce aluminum based die engines to replace the conventional cast iron based diesel engine, which are commonly used in Agricultural pump-sets for irrigation and de-watering in waterlogged areas.
With this new technology based on aluminum die, Punjab’s farmers would be immensely benefitted as their input cost per acre would be reduced drastically by Rs 6,000 per acre.
To be equipped with the latest integrix-300 machine for manufacturing aluminum die engine, it will not only meet the local demand of engines but also supply its surplus production in other parts of the country, thus competing with China and Japan in this segment of engines.