Saturday, October 4, 2008

YSR Has Designs For Tool School In Kadapa

Ysr Has Designs For Tool School In Kadapa


HYDERABAD: After getting the nod for prestigious institutions like the IIIT, JNTU, the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences and a sainik school in Kadapa, Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy has urged the Centre to set up an extension centre of the Central Institute of TooI Design (CITD) in his native district.
The CITD was set up at Balanagar here by the Union Industries Ministry in 1968 and has been providing training in tool design and manufacture, CAD/CAM, low-cost automation, CNC programming & machining and VLSI/embedded systems.
A sub-centre was opened at Vijayawada a few years ago to cater to the needs of small-scale industries, and the local units have benefited tremendously from this.
When the CITD officials said a full-fledged extension centre would require around Rs 5 crore — excluding the cost of land, water, power and other infrastructure, the State Government assured it that this would be taken care of if the Centre provided the CITD branch with latest equipment and machinery.
According to official sources, the chief minister is keen on a CITD centre in Kadapa as hundreds of engineering and polytechnic graduates finishing their academic studies in the next two or three years would need a worldclass training centre to hone their skills.
Since Kadapa is close to industrial cities like Chennai and Benguluru known for automobile and machine tools industries respectively, the chances of these trained youth getting jobs in those cities and also in Hyderabad would be very high.
"As all units in neighbouring States need operators in the machine shop, CNC shop, CAD/CAM, metrology, etc., the State Government has requested the Centre to open the CITD’s extension centre in Kadapa district," sources said.
They further said such programmes would help address the unemployment problem and also help prevent youths from straying into anti-social activities.
The CITDs are well-designed to meet the requirements of industry, and they train over 3,500 candidates every year. The trainees have been absorbed by various industrial houses and some have even become successful entrepreneurs on their own, upgrading small units into major ones with an annual turnover Rs 50-60 crore and contributing to industrial growth in and around Hyderabad.
When contacted, Kadapa Collector M T Krishna Babu said the administration was ready to offer land to the CITD. "We are awaiting its response," he told to this website's newspaper.