Karuna wants ISRO's launch site near Tuticorin

DMK chief M Karunanidhi has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking to set up Indian Space Research Organisation's proposed second launch site near Tuticorin in south Tamil Nadu.
Referring to the Department of Space's plan to establish a second site included in the 12th Five Year Plan, Karunanidhi said, ".. I am of the view that Kulasekarapattinam in Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) District in Tamil Nadu will be best suited to construct a new launch site."
"This place is near equator and is nearer to major rocket research establishments like VSSC, LPSC and IISU. This is evaluated as the best site next to French Guinea," he claimed.

Observing that there was an urgent and pressing need to establish an institute dedicated to aerospace and propulsion studies in the country, he said there was an acute shortage of experts in the field.
"I suggest that the campus of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, Mahendragiri, will be ideally suited for establishing this kind of 'Indian Institute of Aerospace and Propulsion Technology' to focus on the fields like aerospace, propulsion, high speed flights, aircraft and helicopter building etc as sufficient extent of lands and technical leadership are available here," he said, in his letter.
The former Chief Minister contended that south Tamil Nadu had not industrially advanced on the expected lines, in spite of its strategic and geographical advantages and availability of talented man-power.

Establishing of the institution and the second launch pad in the state would definitely change the face of the region and mark a beginning of a technological revolution in this part of our country, he said in his letter to Singh, who is also the head of the department of space.