Plastics park in MP attracts units, while locals demand jobs

Twenty small and medium-size manufacturers have evinced interest in the Plastic Park being developed here, some 40 km from Bhopal.

This is one of four such approved in 2013 by the central government for promotion of downstream plastic processing industries. The others were to be in Assam, Odisha and Tamil Nadu.

"Construction of roads, water and power station is in progress," J N Vyas, managing director, Audyogik Kendra Vikas Nigam, told this newspsper. "So far, 20 companies have demanded land here." An MP Plastic Park Development Corporation has been created. The park will also have a centre of the Central Institute of Plastic Engineering.

The units to come up from the companies mentioned earlier should be creating combined employment for 250 people. The products listed by the companies include plastic caps, polyvinyl chloride pipes, orthopaedic and dental products, plastic and glass sheets, PET (polyethylene terephthalate) jars, flex, recycling of plastic granules and plastic pipes.

The park is being developed on 121 acres with an investment of Rs 108 crore, including the 'notional' value of government-owned land at Rs 21 crore. Of which, the central government will give Rs 40 crore. The park is expected to attract up to 100 small and medium scale units.

This 5,000-strong village has demanded jobs for locals. "Most of the youth are unemployed and barely get jobs at the nearby industrial area of Mandideep. Recently, a private player had set up a textile unit but none from the village was offered any job," Shivnarayan Shrivastava, an elder, told this newspaper.

If villagers are believed, only 25-30 from here work in the nearby industrial area. "Either they do farming or remain jobless," said Ganesh Ram, who had to give a small portion of his land for the park. He said he had been given a handsome Rs 60 lakh an acre and had bought another lot of land nearby. "Yet, I want to see that the plastic park should offer jobs to local people." To which, Vyas said, "If investors want incentives and exemption on certain provisions, the state industrial policy mandates at least 50 per cent jobs to locals."