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After a long debate and discussions over land, decks have been cleared for the proposed Plastic Park near Bhopal. Union minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers, Ananth Kumar, will lay foundation stone for the park, which is expected to house nearly 100 small and medium industries.
As the central government has already given its consent to chip in an amount of Rs 40 crore for the project, the state has started offering land to small private players who are into plastic goods manufacturing.
The park is part of the National Plastic Park Policy 2010, which was modified in 2013. It will be developed on an area of 121 acres in Tamot village of Raisen district, some 70 km away from Bhopal.
"A land area of nearly 80 acres is under dispute, as the forest department had claimed it was a forest. However records, surveys, inspections and other reports have clarified that it is revenue land," a senior government official in the state industries department told Business Standard.
Pankaj Munjal-promoted Hero Motors had earlier proposed a sports aircraft manufacturing facility on the land, but dumped the plan later. "There is no dispute on the land now," J K Jain, district collector (magistrate) told Business Standard.
Tamot village of Raisen falls under economically backward category district. The Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers has approved a fund of Rs 40 crore for the purpose, another senior official in the department said.
Industries that would come up in the park, according to him, would get be benefits like interest incentives to the investors. A special purpose vehicle, namely MP Plastic Park Development Corporation, has been created to ensure necessary facilities like water, power and roads. It would also have a center of Central Institute of Plastic Engineering. Moreover, oil PSUs may also have opportunities to park raw material that would feed the plastic units that would come up there.
Nearby Bina refinery may also feed naphtha, a key raw material, to the units that will come up in the park. Central government had shortlisted four such parks in Bhopal, Orissa, Tinsukhia and another in Tamil Nadu. "Plastic industries like plastic mugs, toothbrush, or even automobile spares may come up in the park," the official said.
