TAL Manufacturing Solutions Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Tata Motors, has started construction work at the MIHAN Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for setting up a state-of-the-art plant that would cater to the global needs of aircraft major Boeing.

The fencing on the 30 acres of land earmarked for the project is almost complete while the actual work is expected to begin in a week’s time, it was learnt. Sources said that basically TAL will be manufacturing a special type of sheet that would act as a partition between the cargo and passenger areas of various Boeing aircraft. TAL has been retained by the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer for supplying them with unique components for their aircraft world-wide, revealed sources. TAL is the first company to have begun work in the SEZ attached to the Multi Modal International Cargo and Passenger Hub Airport at Nagpur.

Assistant Commissioner, Central Excise and Customs (Preventive), Nikhil Meshram, who is also the Specified Officer for MIHAN SEZ, informed that Nagpur SEZ would be the biggest in India in terms of size. Most of the global IT majors have purchased land at MIHAN SEZ but are still to begin operations, he said. Meshram said that the Nagpur SEZ was unique not only because of its size but also because of the plethora of operations and industries it would be able to accommodate.
In a way, the SEZ also is ‘multi-modal’ - covering IT, Health Parks, et al, he remarked. When contacted, a senior official from TAL Manufacturing Solutions preferred to keep silent on the specific spare parts that TAL would manufacture for Boeing.

THINGS are moving at an astonishing pace at the Multi Modal International Cargo and Passenger Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN). With the irrepressible R C Sinha at the helm of affairs, being the VC&MD of the ambitious project, and a passionate team to support him, infrastructure works are certainly in high gear.

The Central Facility Building (CFB), being built in an area of 22,000 square metres, is expected to be completed by July 2008. It will house various offices including that of the Development Commissioner, Central Excise, amenities like couriers, banks and the office of MADC itself. It will also have an Incubation Centre to allow software companies to kick-start their work immediately.

A whirlwind tour of the site revealed that most of the work on internal roads is nearing completion. MIHAN has a road stretch of about 52 kilometres within its precincts. Pillars have already been installed on the 2.7 km flyover connecting Wardha Road directly to the Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The 3-storeyed telephone exchange building, built on 15,000 square feet of land, will be completed in another nine months, it was learnt.

All the electric supply sub-stations (six in all) have been differently and intricately designed and are nearing completion. Likewise, work on the Ground Water Reservoir (GSR) - that will get water from Wadgaon Dam - and on the elevated water reservoir (24 metre high) just beside it, is in full swing. The two reservoirs have a capacity of 170 lakh litres and 17 lakh litres respectively.

Yet, quality is one thing that Sinha keeps on harping even while giving a time frame for completion of various projects to engineers and consultants. Known for delivering goods expeditiously, Sinha went about various sites inspecting work in minutest detail and giving subtle instructions on the nuances of design and technique. Listening to the dilemma of a contractor at one of the sites, he asked his senior officers to provide technical guidance and support to the smaller contractors and not just ‘exercise control’ over them.

Sinha was accompanied by Harshawardhan Gajbhiye, Senior Vice President, MADC, MADC Director Arun Bongirwar, Chief Engineer S V Chahande, Project Manager Abid Ruhi and staff.

SEVEN former students of crème de la crème of engineering and technical institutes of the country like IIT and BITS Pilani have come together to set up a new engineering and technology college in the city. Hailing from Vidarbha, these seven technocrats have decided to invest Rs 10 crore in the joint venture. It is probably for the first time in the country that technocrats have come together to float such an educational institute.

They will start Nuva College of Engineering and Technology on Katol-Kalmeshwar Road, some 35 km from here, from the next academic session. “We will begin the admission procedure from June next and the academic activities of the proposed college will begin from July 2008. We have already acquired 20 acres land for the project,” said Chandra Bhople, an alumnus of BITS Pilani and one of the members of the proposed college management while talking exclusively to The Hitavada. Bhople is the Director (Business Development) Osellus Inc., in Silicon Valley, USA. Bhople, during his brief visit to Nagpur, said that in the first year, the college would run courses like Computer Science, Electronic and Telecommunication, IT and Electrical (Electronics and Power) and in the next academic session, new courses will be added. These include Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Bio-technology. While the college will be affiliated to Nagpur University, the courses will be as per AICTE norms, he added. Interestingly, all the seven members in the executive committee of the institute have worked in reputed firms abroad, mainly USA and Australia. “Together we have 100 years of experience in various fields including industry, research and education,” he claimed while declining to reveal their names just yet. Elaborating why Nagpur was selected for the project, he referred to the upcoming mega projects like MIHAN, SEZ that would generate demand for engineers. “We too will get satisfaction that we had served our objective in life. It will be the duty of the sons of soil working for their own brothers and sisters,” he noted. There would be demand of over one lakh software engineers in Nagpur in the coming years, he said. BITS Pilani would be the model for the upcoming college. It will always try to cater to the demand of industries by regularly organising seminars and workshops, Bhople said. Expressing concern over lack of practical knowledge in the students passing out from the colleges in the region, he said that colleges must try to teach what industry needed and not concentrate only on theory. “This creates huge gap between demand and supply. I am blaming faculties who never had given proper thought on the practical point of view,” Bhople pointed out. The upcoming college would not only provide guidance on career, but would also invite bigwigs from domestic and international companies to interact with the students, Bhople said. Bhople, who is also President of BITS Pilani Alumni Association in Silicon Valley, stressed on overall development of the students. For the purpose, the colleges should have facilities like Sports, Personality and Communication Development Skill programmes, he said.