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Telangana to have rail and metro coach factory

The Central government might have failed to keep its promise of a coach factory for Telangana, but the State has charted its own course towards achieving the long pending dream and will soon have a rail and coach factory here.

The Telangana government on Friday inked a pact with the Hyderabad-based Medha Servo Drivers Private Limited to establish a rail and metro coach factory at Kondakkal on the Sangareddy border with an investment of Rs.800 crore.

As per the AP Reorganization Bill, the Central government had promised to sanction a rail coach factory to Telangana within six months from the Appointed Day. However, the promise has remained on paper for over three years now, following which the State decided to take matters into its own hands.

Describing the move as a crucial and important development for the State, Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao said despite repeated appeals by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to the Central government, the coach factory was not sanctioned to Telangana.

There are very few coach factories in the country. The proposed coach factory spread over 100 acres at Kondakkal will aid in establishing a few ancillary manufacturing units in future in the State, he said. “The Central government is promoting the Make in India concept and I want the best of the best products to be manufactured in Telangana,” Rao said.

Already, a medical device manufacturing unit and a textile park have been grounded in the State. The focus is now on automobile manufacturing units. Telangana should become a manufacturing hub, he said.

Medha Servo Drivers managing director Y. Kasyap Reddy said the factory would be equipped to build 200 to 300 coaches a year. The company presently employs nearly 3,000 people and the new plant will provide employment to 2,000 more people directly and indirectly. Plans are being made to have the groundbreaking ceremony early in 2018, he said.

Medha, a Rs.1,000 crore turnover company, is one of the largest propulsion equipment (electronics) supplier to Indian Railways. It is presently working with the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai to deliver a 160 kmph train design. “We are also planning to develop an ecosystem to train unskilled workers and groom them into professionals in association with TASK, a Telangana government initiative,” Reddy said.

Source: Telangana Today

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