Dropping land acquisition will not be setback to Aerospace & Defence Park: Minister

Belagavi (Karnataka), Dec 12 (PTI) Karnataka Industries Minister MB Patil on Friday told the Assembly that the state government's decision to drop acquisition of 1,777 acres in Devanahalli near Bengaluru, following farmers' protests, will not be a setback to the Aerospace & Defence Park project there.

He pointed out that Karnataka contributes 65 per cent of India's aerospace and defence output and globally the state is considered the third largest ecosystem.

The Minister was replying to a question by Deputy Leader of the Opposition Arvind Bellad during the Question Hour. The BJP MLA demanded that the government relocate the Aerospace & Defence Park to a place between Belagavi and Hubballi-Dharwad.

The Karnataka government has declared 1,777 acres of land across 13 villages in Channarayapatna hobli, Devanahalli taluk, as a "Permanent Special Agricultural Zone." Long protests by farmers had led the government to drop the land acquisition plan.

"As a special case, we've dropped the acquisition there (in Devanahalli), and it will be a permanent agricultural zone....Just because one parcel of land had to be dropped (from acquisition) doesn't mean it's a setback.

There is a growing demand in Bengaluru and surrounding regions, including Kolar, so we will have it there," Patil said. Bengaluru, Bengaluru Rural, Kolar and Chikkaballapur region is a "natural ecosystem" for the aerospace and defence sectors, he said.

Noting that the ecosystem is also growing, especially in Belagavi, the minister said, "For this, we must congratulate Aravind Melligeri of Aequs, a private special economic zone (SEZ), which is supplying to the likes of Boeing, Airbus and Lockheed Martin." He said the Belagavi-Hubballi region will benefit from the Bengaluru-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (BMIC), which will have 3,000 acres for aerospace and defence industries, including vendors and component manufacturers.

Pointing out that there is no industrial corridor in Belagavi, Patil said, during a recent roadshow in Pune, he was asked to provide industrial space in Belagavi by some big industry.

"But we have no space here. I took this seriously and discussed it with the district-in-charge Minister Satish Jarkiholi. Our Special DC has identified a land. We have now identified a piece of land for an industrial park," he said.

People were moving to Maharashtra with no industrial park in Belagavi, he further said, as he hoped that the proposed industrial park would materialise.

Highlighting that the government has also pitched for a defence corridor in the north Karnataka region (Belagavi, Dharwad and Vijayapura region) Patil said, "The CM and I met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on this and submitted a proposal.... you (BJP) also follow it up." PTI KSU ADB