MH-FADNAVIS-DEFENCE

Fadnavis approves land for defence equipment cluster at MIHAN
    Mumbai, Aug 10 (PTI) The Maharashtra government today
approved allotment of 20 acres of land at MIHAN SEZ in Nagpur
for setting up a defence equipment manufacturing cluster.
    Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis gave the land
allotment approval at the 64th Meeting of the Board of
Directors of the Maharashtra Airport Development Company Ltd
(MADC) here, a statement from his office said.
    This initiative will result in creation of 50,000
jobs, it said.
    Fadnavis is also chairman of MADC.
    The defence equipment manufacturing cluster will offer
various benefits like development of defence ecosystem and
facility for high-end training, said the statement from the
Chief Minister's Office (CMO).
    The 20-acre land in Sector 10 of MIHAN SEZ will be
handed over to the Vidarbha Defence Industrial Hub for setting
up the cluster, it said.
    The Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at
Nagpur (MIHAN) seeks to harness the potential of Nagpur and
convert the present airport into a major cargo hub. A special
economic zone (SEZ) is also part of the project.
    Looking at a large amount of work for various airports
in Maharashtra, Fadnavis also accorded sanction for
strengthening the Urban Planning Department of the MADC.
    Twenty-one vacancies will to filled for this purpose,
it said.
    Progress on airport projects at Shirdi (Ahmednagar
district), Purandar (Pune), Belora (Amravati), Chandrapur,
Solapur, Shivni (Akola) was reviewed at the meet along with
the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) of the Union Ministry
of Civil Aviation, the statement said.
    Nanded, Nashik, Jalgaon and Kolhapur airports are
getting good response from passengers, the Chief Minister was
informed at the meeting, as per the statement.
    Fadnavis issued directives for starting night landing
facility at the airport in Shirdi, a temple town located 240km
from Mumbai that houses the famous Saibaba temple.
    Since its launch in October last year, the Shirdi
greenfield airport has seen operations of 2,000 flights
carrying 50,000 passengers, the statement said.
    Permission has also been given to appoint a
consultant to prepare layout of the terminal building of the
Shirdi airport.
    "In view of a large number of devotees thronging the
temple town and the good response to the air service, the
runway (at the Shirdi airport) will be expanded from 2,500
metre to 3,200 metre (to accommodate bigger aircraft)," the
meeting was told.
    The Saibaba Sansthan Trust has organised a year-long
festival to mark the centenary year of `mahasamadhi' of the
revered saint of Shirdi. A large number of Saibaba devotees
are visiting the temple town during the centenary year. PTI MR
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