KANPUR (UP), Feb 26 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday said while country-made pistols used to be flashed in UP before 2017, the state now has a defence corridor helping India become self-reliant in defence manufacturing.
Adityanath on Monday inaugurated the Ammunition Manufacturing Complex of Adani Group in the Defence Corridor. Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Pande was also present during the inauguration ceremony.
Spread over 500 acres in the city’s suburban pocket, Saadh, the facility in Kanpur is set to become one of the largest integrated ammunition manufacturing complexes in South Asia.
Addressing the gathering, the chief minister said this moment is very joyful for him. “When we had organised our first Investors Summit in 2018, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi had announced two defence manufacturing corridors in the country. Keeping India in mind the goal of self-reliance in the defence sector, the Defence Manufacturing Corridor was announced in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
“The Prime Minister had announced six nodes in UP. This includes Aligarh, Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow, Jhansi and Chitrakoot, in which Adani Defence Systems and Technologies Limited has started its operations in the Kanpur node,” he said.
Adityanath said groundwork has been done to develop a large corridor of 5,000 hectares for defence manufacturing in UP. Till now 5,000 acres of land has been acquired.
The chief minister outlined the involvement of various companies in different nodes, stating, “In this endeavour, BrahMos Limited has started work in Lucknow while Armoured Vehicle Nigam Limited, Tata Technologies Limited, Global Engineering Limited and WV Electronics India Limited have initiated their activities in Jhansi.
“Ancor Research Lab LLP is contributing in the Aligarh node, and major entities like Adani Defence Systems & Technologies Limited are actively involved in Kanpur,” the chief minister elaborated.
He said IIT Kanpur and IIT BHU have been designated as centres for excellence for the Defence Manufacturing Corridor in UP. For this, the defence ministry has also shown partnership to develop infrastructure.
He said work has been done to create a perfect environment for the cooperation of startups in the defence and aerospace sector in the Defence Corridor of UP. The objective behind this is that India can become self-reliant in the defence sector and also fulfill the needs of the world.
Six nodes of UP will prove to be a milestone in this work, he added.
Adityanath said that today, Uttar Pradesh is not acting as a breaker but is doing a breakthrough work in the development of the country.
UP was considered the biggest obstacle to the development of the country before 2017. Today this state is setting new records of development everyday, he added.
Adityanath also said after 46 years of the establishment of Noida, the state government is going to establish a new industrial city in the form of Bida in Bundelkhand. This will become the best industrial city in the country, he said, and added that accordingly, the youth of this entire region will be prepared as the most skilled workforce.
Karan Adani, the chief executive officer of Adani Ports and SEZ Limited (APSEZ), welcomed and felicitated Adityanath by giving him a bouquet and an ‘angvastra’, the UP government said in a statement.
Adityanath inspected the Ammunition Manufacturing Complex.
On this occasion, UP Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana, Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Pande, UP Minister Nandgopal Gupta Nandi, Lt General NS Raja Subramani, Adani Group’s Jeet Adani, Ashish Rajvanshi, public representatives and others were present.
Emphasising the need for self-reliance in the missiles and ammunition, Chief of Army Staff, Manoj Pande said, “Recent geopolitical events have re-emphasised the need for a reliable supply from internal sources for ammunition in preparedness for a long-drawn conflict.”
Such large investments and willingness of Adani Defence & Aerospace to indigenise critical technologies have built confidence in the users to depend on Indian private industry for strategic military supplies, he added.
Karan Adani said this production complex of Adani Group, built on 5,000 acres in just 15 months, is the largest ammunition manufacturing complex in South Asia. It has the capacity to produce 150 million rounds of ammunition per year. Bullets for rifles, light machine guns (LMG), AK-47 and carbines will be made here.
After this, in the next phase, different types of weapons and facilities related products will be manufactured for the Army personnel including artillery guns, ammunition, cannons and hand grenades.
This project, which started with Rs 1,500 crore, will expand to Rs 3,000 crore in the next five years. While this will provide direct employment to 4,000 people, this complex will also generate five times more indirect employment.
The complex will use solar power and waste management technology for its energy needs.
Ashish Rajvanshi, CEO of Adani Defence & Aerospace, said, “The establishment of these ammunition and missiles complexes represents a leap forward in our quest for self-reliance.
“With a planned investment of over Rs 3,000 crore, its impact extends far beyond the defence sector. It will create over 4,000 jobs, with five times the multiplier effect on MSMEs and the local ecosystem benefiting from it indirectly,” he said. (PTI)
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