Nagpur Divisional Commissioner Vijayalakshmi Bidari on Saturday said that the strategically located Nagpur region will be an ideal place for the proposed integrated testing facility. Addressing a function held at IIM Nagpur at MIHAN, Bidari said the Central Government is working on its ambitious project of developing a state-of-the-art testing facility similar to that of in Pokhran. Bidari was chief guest of the function jointly organised by the Global Alliance For Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME), Nagpur Entrepreneurship Mission (NEM), Nagpur Chapter of TiE, IIM Nagpur and InFED (IIMN Foundation for Entrepreneurship Development). Ravi Venkatesan, Founder and Chairperson of the Advisory Board of GAME; Ketul Acharya, President of GAME; Shashikant Chaudhary, NEM Crore Group Member; Sameer Bendre, President of TiE Nagpur; and others were also present on the occasion.

 

“While the Government of Maharashtra is making all out efforts to attract the project in the State, we are trying our level best to set up the project here in the region. Districts like Nagpur and Chandrapur would be ideal locations for the facility,” she said. Bidari further said that the concerned authorities are looking at a huge land parcel of about 10,000 hectare for the proposed testing facility. Though identifying such a huge land parcel is a big task for us, we are leaving no stone unturned to make it happen,” she said adding that the region will be one of the strongest contender for the project. Bidari also expressed great satisfaction over the region’s growth in defence manufacturing. “Lot of private companies and public sector enterprises are doing exceptionally well in the sector. They are not only fulfilling the country’s needs but also exporting their products to other countries,” she said. Bidari highlighted that the country’s defiance production has witnessed robust growth in recent years.

 

As the country is aggressively expanding its defence production, there is a need for one more testing facility. Many private players that are engaged in defence manufacturing are relying on the existing Pokhran Test Range. However, it takes a long time for them to get their products tested in the existing facility. Sometimes, the waiting period is quite long which negatively impacts the private industries. In addition to this, Bidari also said that the Maharashtra Government has come out with various schemes for promotion of the tourism sector and in the region.