DRDO planning research campus in MP

Team Udayavani, Jan 6, 2017, 1:17 PM IST

Bhopal: The Defence Research and Development Organisation is planning to develop a major facility in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district on a vast area of over 900 hectares, for which land acquisition process is on, officials said.

“We have earmarked 930 hectares (about 2,300 acres) of land to DRDO for setting up its centre at Kailaras tehsil.

The total area includes 34 hectares of private land and some forest land,” Morena District Collector Vinod Kumar Sharma told PTI over phone.

When asked about the project, Regional PRO of Hyderabad-based DRDO’s Directorate of Public Interface, Siddharth Thakur said, “I can’t disclose much because of the sensitive nature of the information. But, we are procuring the land in Morena for research activities”.

Thakur said the process of procuring land is underway.

“I will be able to say once everything comes on papers,” he said.

Morena Collector said part of the land, being procured by the DRDO, belongs to the forest department and it has been handed over to the revenue department.

Besides, state Principal Secretary (Revenue) Arun Kumar Pandey said a proposal (for land allotment to DRDO) would soon be put before the Cabinet for discussion and approval.

“We don’t know much about their activities. We are only providing land to DRDO. They would determine the use of this land according to their needs,” Pandey said.

State Revenue Minister Umashankar Gupta also told PTI that the government is providing land to DRDO.

“We are providing land according to the requirement of DRDO. The process would soon be over,” he said.

Another revenue department official said teams of senior DRDO officials have already conducted several inspections of the site.

“The hilly and forest terrain being given to DRDO is situated at Badhareta village in Kailaras tehsil,” he said.

Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) under DRDO is located in Gwalior, which had developed the bio-digesters, used in train toilets, to solve human waste disposal problem.

In addition, the technology was used to decompose biological waste generated by soldiers deployed in high-altitude regions, such as Siachen and Ladakh.