BEL production unit coming up in Palasamudram

PNS|Vijayawada

The Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) will establish a production unit in Palasamudram of Sathya Sai district in Andhra Pradesh, said BJP OBC Morcha national secretary and BEL Director Dr Parthasarathi. Addressing media persons on Sunday, he said that the Central government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was very keen on developing Andhra Pradesh at various levels.

He said that BEL had eight production units and 22 static business units across India. In South India, the BEL units are situated in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Machilipatnam. Now, a new unit is coming up in Palasamudram.

The Director said that in Machilipatnam, BEL was manufacturing night vision glasses for the Armed Forces. “Since they have a good demand, we want to extend the factory with one more manufacturing unit, which is coming up at Nimmaluru in Krishna district. The new unit at Nimmaluru will have advanced technology to manufacture and export the night vision glasses, which will pave the way for generating employment opportunities in turn,” he added.

Dr Parthasarathi said that in Palasamudram, 914 acres of land was allocated for setting up a BEL unit in 2016 for manufacturing missile and Radar testing. But due to various reasons, the project did not take off. There were issues with APIIC regarding the terms and conditions laid by them. All the problems have been resolved now, he said.

He further said that on Saturday, the investment committee of BEL met him and a decision was taken to release Rs 384 crore for the first phase works in Palasamudram. “The unit is much bigger than expected, which is called defence systems integrated complex,” he said.

He said that under PM Modi’s vision to improve backward districts of Andhra Pradesh like Rayalaseema, they were investing huge amounts to develop those areas and generate employment there. “BEL is committed to Make in India programmes. The products we are manufacturing are 99 per cent indigenous. As part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat, we are working hard to develop every product on our own,” said Dr Parthasarathi.