Work to acquire 422 acres for defence park gains momentum

Coimbatore: The district administration has appointed two tahsildars and as many office assistants to acquire 422 acres at Varapatti village in Sulur taluk for the defence industrial corridor.
Earlier, office bearers of the Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (Codissia) had identified the land and approached the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Limited (Tidco) to acquire the same to set up the defence industrial corridor.
To speed up the acquisition process, the district administration has asked Tidco to transfer 158.83 crore to its account towards the land acquisition and administrative expenses. It is to be noted that the district administration is the competent authority to payout the land acquisition charges.
Pointing out that Bengaluru-based Dynamatics Technologies Limited had acquired a wind farm spread across 440 acres at Varapatti village from the Tamil Nadu Petro Products Limited in September 2008, a source with the district administration said the private firm had come forward to provide 410 acres for the defence industrial park.
In August 2022, the source said, the Industries, Investment Promotion and Commerce Department had issued a government order (GO -186) to acquire 410 acres from Dynamatics Technologies Limited.
In addition to this, eight acres of Bhoomidhan land and four acres of poromboke land would be acquired for the project.
“The district administration appointed two tahsildars and two office assistants for the land acquisition work two weeks ago. Now, six senior revenue inspectors and 18 other officials have to be appointed for the work,” the source said.
Office-bearers of Codissia said Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) was planning to set up a unit at the defence industrial park to manufacture some parts of its indigenous aircraft and choppers.
M V Ramesh Babu, former president of Codissia, said they were working with the state government to acquire the land. “If HAL sets up its unit at Varapatti, it will create more job opportunities in the district and the local micro, small and medium enterprises will get job orders.”