Defence Industrial Corridor yet to take off

TIRUCHY: The much-coveted announcement of the Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor in which Tiruchy region also plays a vital part in being the Fabrication and Boiler capital of India has yet to take off in the region even after around two years.

The industrialists who were waiting for the acceleration of programme to revive their almost dying units have lost their hope and asked the governments to come forward with a certain support system to boost the industry active in the region.

Since the presence of the Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) which is one of the major industrial units in Tiruchy for producing High-Pressure Boilers and around 500 MSME units that have evolved amidst the unit and started functioning as auxiliary units to the BHEL.

Apart from BHEL, other PSUs such as Ordnance Factory, Railway Workshop and Dalmia Cements are also playing pivotal roles in the industrial growth of the district.

The announcement of the Defence Industrial Corridor including Tiruchy as one of its five nods, the industrialists in the region was elated but their happiness did not have a long life as they are sceptical about the programme.

“We have been waiting for a favourable signal from the government but more than two years have gone and the sign of taking off is visible,” said Tiruchirapalli District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association (TIDITSSIA) president P Rajappa.

He said, as soon as the Union Finance Minister announced the Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor with Tiruchy as a part, the entire industrial fraternity in the region was elated as most of the BHEL auxiliary units were on the verge of closure and around 150 of them had already been closed.

“But we see only online meetings and nothing more and no proper guidance has been given to the industries willing to take part in the defence corridor”, he said.

Rajappa further said that the Coimbatore node had received a certain fund but there is no sign of fund allocation for the Tiruchy node. “With such poor support, who will come forward? That will be a risk”, claimed Rajappa.

Charging that the tender policy or procurement by the government falls to the major units across the nation and there is no proper local nodal office in Tiruchy to clear any doubt.

The Union government must either appoint a nodal officer at OFT or HAPP so that it would be easier for the units to approach and get first-hand knowledge about the required components.

“The officials in OFT see us as though we are from some other planet. So, the government should also educate them to have a friendly gesture among the officials who are mostly non-Tamil speaking people,” Rajappa rued. Similarly, the online tender floating needs to be revived.

“Actually, it is a confidential bid but a few north Indian firms win the tender at any cost and we suspect some loopholes in the system. I think there are several imaginary units existing online just for the sake of participating in the tender bid. Shockingly, according to the UDYAM Registration portal for MSMEs, Tiruchy has around 35,000 MSMEs which is great jaw-dropping information for the people like us who are in the field for several decades,” Rajappa quips.

He urged to streamline the participating units and provide orders to BHEL through which the other dependent units would get regular orders on par with that of a few states in North India.