A state government subsidiary to facilitate the progressive ceramic insulator industry at Bikaner waits for further support from the government for finding further relevance. The government ceramic center at Bikaner was transformed as the Ceramic Electrical Research and Development Center (CERDC) in 2010 to provide a platform for testing and measurement services to the local ceramic insulator industry.
The center, despite gaining NABL accreditation, has failed to draw enthusiasm of local industry and needs a supporting order from the energy department. “A quality control order is still pending the department of Energy for nearly one and a half year, if this order is issued in favour of CERDC, it will be of great value addition to the center and government,” says an officer at the center.
The testing facilities of the center have been availed by a mere five dozen of the hundreds of ceramic industries operational in the region. The order is expected to provide locally quality tested products priority in the purchase by the energy department. Officials feel a need for such conservation as the government founded center continues to lose business to laboratories located in other states. Even as Bikaner emerges as a national leader in the production of ceramic electrical insulators, many industries producing and selling insulators in Rajasthan have been acquiring the certificates from laboratories outside the state.
This trend has also reflected on the interest shown by industries to associate with the center for development of new products. According to officials, the center has yet not received any proposal for consultancy or development of products by any industry. However, the center has been able to develop a new testing technique and has applied for the patent of the same.