Maharashtra approves land at MIHAN in Nagpur for defence equipment cluster

The Maharashtra government on Friday approved allotment of 20 acres of land at MIHAN SEZ in Nagpur for setting up a defence equipment manufacturing cluster.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis gave the land allotment approval at the 64th Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Maharashtra Airport Development Company Ltd (MADC) here, a statement from his office said.

This initiative will result in creation of 50,000 jobs, it said.

Fadnavis is also chairman of MADC.

The defence equipment manufacturing cluster will offer various benefits like development of defence ecosystem and facility for high-end training, said the statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).

The 20-acre land in Sector 10 of MIHAN SEZ will be handed over to the Vidarbha Defence Industrial Hub for setting up the cluster, it said.
 

The Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) seeks to harness the potential of Nagpur and convert the present airport into a major cargo hub. A special economic zone (SEZ) is also part of the project.

Looking at a large amount of work for various airports in Maharashtra, Fadnavis also accorded sanction for strengthening the Urban Planning Department of the MADC.

Twenty-one vacancies will to filled for this purpose, it said.

Progress on airport projects at Shirdi (Ahmednagar district), Purandar (Pune), Belora (Amravati), Chandrapur, Solapur, Shivni (Akola) was reviewed at the meet along with the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) of the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, the statement said.

Nanded, Nashik, Jalgaon and Kolhapur airports are getting good response from passengers, the Chief Minister was informed at the meeting, as per the statement.
 

Fadnavis issued directives for starting night landing facility at the airport in Shirdi, a temple town located 240km from Mumbai that houses the famous Saibaba temple.

Since its launch in October last year, the Shirdi greenfield airport has seen operations of 2,000 flights carrying 50,000 passengers, the statement said.

Permission has also been given to appoint a consultant to prepare layout of the terminal building of the Shirdi airport.

"In view of a large number of devotees thronging the temple town and the good response to the air service, the runway (at the Shirdi airport) will be expanded from 2,500 metre to 3,200 metre (to accommodate bigger aircraft)," the meeting was told.

The Saibaba Sansthan Trust has organised a year-long festival to mark the centenary year of 'mahasamadhi' of the revered saint of Shirdi. A large number of Saibaba devotees are visiting the temple town during the centenary year.