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The ministry of defence would explore the possibilities of setting up industries that would manufacturer goods for the defence establishment.
The issue came up for discussion during a meeting between Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar, who was on a day-long state visit on Wednesday. Singh gave a presentation before him; informing about the potential in the state for setting up industries related to defence production.
"The Defence Minister has assured the Chief Minister that he would seriously look into the matter related to setting up Defence production industries in Chhattisgarh," a state government spokesperson said. Parikkar said that it would be in the line of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" campaign. The public sector undertaking would be assigned the project.
The senior state government officials present in the meeting informed the defence minister that about 600 acres of land had been identified in Rajnandgaon district for Defence production-related industries. They informed that Rajnandgaon is ideally located on the Mumbai-Kolkata Railway trunk route that would facilitate easy transportation.
Chief Minister urged Parikkar for starting a Rashtriya Military School at in the Naxal-hotbed of Bastar. Talented students from the Pota Cabin Schools at Bastar can be selected and admitted to the Rashtriya Military School. The children of Naxalites'-affected families are educated at Pota Cabin Schools with boarding facilities.
Earlier, talking to reporters, Parikkar ruled out army plunging in anti-naxals operations. He said the armed forces would extend logistic and training support to police in dealing with the naxal violence in Chhattisgarh if demands were made in this direction. "..foreigners are not involved in it (naxal movement)," the defence minister said, adding that army was used when outside forces were involved as used against terrorists in Kashmir.
On the issue of One Rank One Pension for the defence personnel, the minister said the government had made a concrete framework and would soon announce it.
