Kerala - Kozhikode   

IT hub planned at Mavoor

Staff Reporter

Kozhikode emerging as an education centre in the State: Jairam Ramesh

FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE: Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jairam Ramesh taking a look at the handloom factory of the Commonwealth Trust of India in Kozhikode on Friday.

KOZHIKODE: Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jairam Ramesh has said that efforts will be made to utilise the Grasim factory site at Mavoor here for setting up an IT hub and higher education centre.

Appreciating the efforts of the State Government to use the land for useful purpose, he said Industries Minister Elamaram Karim had briefed him on the proposal to develop the site as an IT hub.

Mr. Ramesh was speaking at a programme `development of Malabar with a global vision' organised by the Malabar Chamber of Commerce here on Friday.

Reacting to the memorandum submitted by the chamber, he said he had already talked to the representatives of the Birla management on the proposal to use the factory site for a worthwhile endeavour such as an educational centre on the lines of the Birla Institute at Pilani.

This would be an added advantage to Kozhikode that had already emerged as an educational centre in the State, he said.

He said a team from the Footwear Design and Development Centre, Noida, would visit Kozhikode to study the feasibility of setting up a Footwear Design and Development Centre here.

"The feasibility was in PVC and polymer variety footwear design and development as opposed to the leather variety mooted for the centre proposed here," he added.

On the chamber plea for developing the Beypore Port, he said steps had been initiated for calling global tender.

"There is a future for the Commonwealth Factory here through land development and VRS of a section of employees. Reportedly, the oldest factory in the world, 80 per cent of the Commonwealth enterprise products fetched an export market. The Ministry of Commerce will assist in market development and export of products of the enterprise. The Federal Bank authorities have promised to reassess the revival proposal."

MCC president P. Sakeer, P.V. Gangadharan, P.V. Chandran, K.E.N. Kunhumohammed, R.N. Saboo and heads of Central Government institutions were present.

Talking to presspersons on the sidelines of the MCC programme, Mr. Ramesh said a sum of Rs.1,300 crore would be disbursed for replanting coconut palms on three lakh hectares over five years. He said this was necessary as an assessment of the coconut crop had not been carried out in the nineties.

Earlier, Mr. Ramesh visited the IISR, Directorate of Arecanut and Spices, Commonwealth Factory at Mananchira and Kappad Beach.

He also visited the Allama Iqbal Indian Humanitarian Academy. Academy Director Abdusamad Samdani was among those who spoke.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Management fete begins at NIT-C
Infrastructure gets priority in budget
IT hub planned at Mavoor
`Colloid 07' a big draw
Jairam Ramesh for integrated approach in spices sector
Inter-district gang of thieves arrested

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu