A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the setting up of Defence Industrial Corridor in Uttar Pradesh, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman on Thursday said that officials should go down to the targeted area and start ground work by next month.
“These officials will meet local people and even artisans to know the possibility of kind of Defence units that can come up there,” said the Defence minister while addressing the plenary session on ‘Defence and Aerospace : Investment Opportunities in UP’ on the second day of ‘Investors Summit’ in lucknow on Thursday.
Sitharaman said that to activate Defence corridor the government was in touch with the industry trying to know what they could supply and whether it was in congruence with what the Army wanted.
“The Modi Government is promoting Defence Manufacturing Corridor in the country to minimise the nation’s defence procurement bill from other countries. The Prime Minister has asked us to reduce import bill and it can only happen when industries in the country are capable of supplying the requirement,” she said.
The Defence minister said that her ministry has already started the process to activate Defence Corridor. “Teams will go to Agra, Aligarh, Jhansi and other places to enquire about other details and demand of the sector,” she said.
India is the third largest country in procurement for defence products in the world as it purchases weapons from a host of countries.
“The capacity of metal work has been ignored in the past. People ignored Moradabad, Aligarh and other places in UP which are famous for metal work. Instead, we preferred purchase of weapons from foreign countries,” Sitharaman said.
The Defence minister said that units can come around the proposed Bundelkhand Expressway which will connect Agra with Chitrakoot. “This will not only bring employment but also give an economic fillip to the region,” she said.
Terming the Investors Summit historic, Sitharaman said that during her meeting with the CM, she had cursorily talked about Defence Corridor and UP can get one if the state government took interest.
“In just 18 days all formalities were completed and both the state and the Central government came on one page to bring this prestigious project to Bundelkhand,” she said.
In his address, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanatah said that the Defence Corridor and Aerospace have vast opportunities in the state.
“There is good transport connectivity with highways and rail in the state. An international airport coming up at Jewar (Greater Noida), besides there are three airports in lucknow, Kanpur and Allahabad. These would give the state an edge over other states,” he said.
Yogi said that Defence Corridor will be linked with all districts and its reflection will be seen in the ‘One District, One Product’ (ODOP) scheme.
State Industry minister Satish Mahana and others also spoke at the session.