ISRO to takeover defunct HMT's 109 acre land on July 14

The 109 acres of land that was formerly owned by the now defunct public sector unit Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT), will be transferred to the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) at 10.30 am on July 14 at a grand ceremony.

Making the announcement, MP S P Muddahanume Gowda told reporters on Thursday that the handover will then put Tumakuru on the global map.

History of the land

HMT, which manufactured a whole array of products from wristwatches to tractors, lost out to competition from the private sector.

In September 2016, the Union government closed down key divisions of HMT: HMT Watches Ltd, HMT Bearings, HMT Tractors, and HMT Chinar Watches Ltd.

The main reasons were that the company was making losses for more than a decade. During 2012-13, the company had losses of Rs 242 crore on revenues of only Rs 11 crore.

After the closure, the Union government was very keen on retaining the land where the PSU was situated and not letting it fall into the hands of private parties.

The government was also under pressure from Karnataka's MPs to re-allot the land to another government agency which was as prestigious as HMT. So, the land was allotted to Isro-- India's premier space research organisation.

The MP said that with the establishment of Isro's centre in Tumakuru, 5000 jobs would be created. "Isro's officers will let you know what kinds of jobs will be created at the ceremony on July 14," he added.

He added that the function would be attended by Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, ministers S R Srinivas, Venkataramanappa, Isro officials like S Kumaraswamy, MLA G B Jyoti Ganesh and local people's representatives.