State plans ‘Plug & Play’ sheds for industries

In a bid to prepare local industries compete with China, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday proposed to develop Plug & Play industrial sheds, which will enable industries to manufacture spare parts at the village and taluk level.

Kumaraswamy said a Program Mission Unit will be established which will help local industries to manufacture goods and open malls to market them. “In line with the “Produce or Perish,” we are now required to increase our production. With this perspective, I am thinking to implement the “Compete with China” scheme,” he said.

To increase human resources to support this scheme, the chief minister has announced development of Bharath Solar District in Kalaburagi, where solar panels, inverters, capacitors and luminators will be produced. Manufacturing of LED lights will be promoted in Chitradurga district. In an effort to compete with Chinese made bathroom and floor tiles, the government has proposed to develop bathroom floor tiles and sanitary goods manufacturing in Hassan district. Koppal district will be centre for development of a cluster for manufacture of toys.

Kumaraswamy also announced plans to establish an ICB manufacturing unit at Mysuru. Emphasis will be given to further develop textiles industry in Ballari district, he said.

Kumaraswamy said the state government will encourage setting up mobile phone components industry in Chikkaballapur. “Now sports and fitness are the requirement of all states in the country. I propose to establish units to produce these goods in Tumakuru district for 23 sports,” he said.

In the next four years, it is proposed to invest Rs 2,000 crore for production of sports and fitness goods in Tumakuru district with an aim to create 1 lakh employment, he added.

To help the farming community get access to low-cost agriculture equipment, the government has proposed to manufacture agricultural implements required for agriculture and production of agro products in Bidar district. In the next four years, the government intends to provide Rs 2,000 crore capital to the companies who come forward to manufacture agricultural implementation in Bidar district.

To implement all the schemes, the government intends to set up training centres to train workers and provide Rs 2,000 crore over the next four years. The private sector needs to invest another Rs 3,000 crore, the chief minister said. Thus, there will be an investment of Rs 5,000 crore for each district. The private sector may have to raise Rs 15,000 crore from the banks to fund this programme, Kumaraswamy said adding that the new measures will result in generation of 8 lakh jobs in each district.