There is jubilation in the District on the announcement of Union Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi to lay foundation stone for Kanjikode railway coach factory on October 22, 2010 at the meeting held with the delegation led by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in Thiruvanathapuram on Monday.
The decision has ended the three decades long wait of the people of Palakkad and the State for a Railway Coach Factory at Kanjikode promised to it in the 1980s.
Kanjikode Industries Forum (KIF) President M. Paramasivam has hailed the decision and said that the Coach Factory will help the overall development of the State and particularly the backward district of Palakkad.
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It will also help bring hundreds of ancillary industries also.
The industrial development will require more railway facilities like new goods sheds and movement of goods through railways help the Railways also to increase its earning from the State, he said.
The former President of KIF, K. Pankajakshan, has said that the Coach factory will make Palakkad as the new industrial investment destination as a number of ancillary industries will have to be set up to provide spare parts.
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Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithy Vice President Joby Chungath has said that the Coach factory will herald the development of the district as a whole in providing infrastructure, spare parts and manpower to the railways.
The founder President of Institution of Engineers India, Dr. N.G. Nair, has said that the setting up of the coach factory will help revival of small and sick units and bring as it required a number of ancillary industries.
It will also help the foundry, casting and refractory industries to set up new units to provide components to the rail coach.
It will also provide over 3000 direct employment in the railways and another 5000 indirect employment in ancillary industries, Dr. Nair said.
Chairman of Shoranur Municipality M.R. Murali has said that the Coach factory will help the metal industries concentrated in Shoranur.
Chairperson of Ottapalam Municipality Rani Jose said that it will help the development of the nearby Ottapalam where a new industrial park of Kerala Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA) is under construction.
The state government had provided 431 acres of land to the Railway free of cost last year at Kanjikode for the Coach factory.