Team News Riveting
Bengaluru, February 6
In yet another step towards Aatmanirbharta in the defence sector, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today dedicated to the nation the HAL Helicopter Factory at Tumakuru in Karnataka.
Its foundation stone was also laid by the Prime Minister in 2016. It is a dedicated new greenfield helicopter factory which will enhance the capacity and ecosystem to build helicopters. This is Asia’s largest helicopter manufacturing facility and will initially produce Light Utility Helicopters (LUH). LUH is an indigenously designed and developed 3-ton class, single-engine multipurpose utility helicopter with the unique feature of high manoeuvrability.
The factory will be expanded to manufacture other helicopters such as Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) and Indian Multirole Helicopter (IMRH) as well as for repair and overhaul of LCH, LUH, Civil ALH and IMRH in the future. The factory also has the potential for exporting the Civil LUHs in future. This facility will enable India to meet its entire requirement of helicopters indigenously and will attain the distinction of enabling self-reliance in helicopter design, development and manufacture in India. The factory will have a manufacturing set-up of Industry 4.0 standards. Over the next 20 years, HAL is planning to produce more than 1000 helicopters in the class of 3-15 tonnes from Tumakuru. This will result in providing employment for around 6000 people in the region.
The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of Tumakuru Industrial Township. Under the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme, the development of the Industrial Township spread across 8484 acres in three phases in Tumakuru has been taken up as part of the Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor.
During the programme, the Prime Minister also laid the foundation stones of two Jal Jeevan Mission projects at Tiptur and Chikkanayakanahalli in Tumakuru. The Tiptur Multi-Village Drinking Water Supply Project will be built at a cost of over Rs 430 crore. The Multi-village water supply scheme to 147 habitations of Chikkanayakanahlli taluk will be built at a cost of around Rs 115 crores. The projects will facilitate the provision of clean drinking water for the people of the region.
Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister said, “We have to minimize foreign dependence for our defence needs.” With the spirit of ‘Nation First’ success is assured, he said, adding that the factory and rising strength of HAL has exposed the purveyors of falsehood. Modi said the double-engine government has made Karnataka the first choice of investors.
Industrial township is a huge gift to Tumakuru after the Food Park and HAL which will help in developing Tumakuru as a big industrial center of the country. “The Double Engine government is paying equal attention to social infrastructure as well as physical infrastructure,” Modi said.
