Police stations, fire stations in all MIDC estates

PUNE: All industrial estates of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) will soon have their own police stations and fire stations, state minister for industries Rajendra Darda announced on Saturday.
Darda said the MIDC will also construct the premises of the two facilities in all the new estates and will identify plots for them in the existing ones."A plot has been identified in the Bhosari industrial estate for a fire station and one for a police station will be identified soon, he said.
The state will do everything possible to keep industrial investments flowing in, Darda said, adding that the procedural blocks will be removed to facilitate the smooth setting up of new units.
Darda said the state has undertaken comprehensive measures to evict the sqautters on MIDC plots and make more land available in industrial estates for setting up of new units and expansion of existing ones. "Since the drive started four months ago, we have been able to vacate 181 plots and expect the number of these to rise to 400 soon," he said.
Darda was addressing a function at the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture (MCCIA) where he inaugurated two "lean manufacturing clusters" promoted by the chamber for automotive components and white goods components.
The clusters comprise members of the MCCIA who have come together to acquire methodology to cut waste in their manufacturing and improve productivity.
The clusters have come under the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme of the Central government for small and medium enterprises. Under the programme, consultants assigned by the National Productivity Council guide the cluster members for productivity improvement and waste minimisation.
Darda also unveiled the IT Directory of MCCIA and a publication of MIDC which profiles Pune district in terms of its industrial and other infrastructure.