Will the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology be pleased to state:
(a) the details of the plan proposed by the Government to make the State of West Bengal a drone manufacturing hub; and
(b) the funds released for the development of drone manufacturing centres at Kalyani, Naihati, Sonarpur and Falta in the State of West Bengal during each of the last three years and the current year?
(a) and (b): As per the Government of West Bengal, two Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMCs) at Naihati and Falta are ready for allotment of land to prospective electronics manufacturing enterprises. These two EMCs have been approved by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, where 44% of the project cost is to be borne by the Government of India and rest by the Government of West Bengal and other concerns.
Further, one Electronics Hardware Park at Sonarpur is ready for allotment of land to prospective electronics manufacturing enterprises, and one Electronics Hardware Park at Kalyani is under construction. The aforesaid Electronics Hardware Parks are the projects of Government of West Bengal.
However, the aforesaid EMCs and Hardware Parks are not specifically meant for drone manufacturing units. Any electronics hardware manufacturing unit, including drone manufacturing unit, can apply for the land to set up their manufacturing units in these EMCs and Hardware Parks as per Government norms.
MeitY has released an amount of Rs.5.14 crore and Rs.5.13 crore for the EMCs at Naihati and Falta, respectively, during 2016-17.
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