Medak To Get Central Institute of Plastics Engineering & Technology (CIPET)

The Union Minister for Fertilisers and Chemicals Ananth Kumar said that very soon, financial sanction for setting up a new Central Institute of Plastics Engineering & Technology (CIPET) campus over a 20-acre spread in Rudraram of Medak district at a cost of Rs. 50 crore would be accorded. It would take students intake up from the current 2,500 to about 5,000 in about two years, he said, to applause. It would be the biggest CIPET campus in country. He was speaking after inaugurating the international plastics exhibition.

Hyderabad already boasts of a basic CIPET learning centre that trains 2,750 students. Currently, there are over five high learning CIPET facilities across the country — one each in Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Lucknow and Kochi. The 6th campus would come in Medak.

In response to a request from Vice-Chairman & Managing Director, Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation, Jayesh Ranjan, about cooperation from Centre in setting  up a Plastic & Chemicals City, as being planned by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, on the lines of Petroleum, Chemicals & Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR), the Minister said he would take it up with the Centre. “I know Telangana does not have a sea port for us to get a PCPIR. I will persuade the Planning Commission to sanction a Plastic park,” he said, pledging the Centre’s support to Telangana.

Last year, the then UPA government had approved setting up of four plastic parks one each in Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Assam. “There are over 7,000 units (plastic companies) in and around Hyderabad with a collective business of about Rs 2,500 crore. Telangana eminently deserves one (plastics park),” the minister said.

Meanwhile, plastics consumption in India stood at about 11.7 million tonnes last year and is expected to touch 20 million tonnes by 2020. Considering the increase in plastics usage, Kumar said, the industry should adopt a ‘Plastic Social Responsibility,’ initiative to process waste. “We are launching a nationwide campaign for waste management. We will set up planst in over 500 cities to convert waste into compost. Similarly, the plastics industry should have a plastic social responsibility drive to process all the waste,” he said.