Pune, Nov 15: Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Sunday performed ‘bhoomipujan’ for the revival of National Heavy Engineering Cooperative Limited (NHEC) and announced that production at the ailing institution will commence before December 2027.
Addressing a gathering on the occasion, Shah said the Centre had initiated steps to revive the institution, in Talegaon here, by bringing together leading cooperative organisations like Amul, NDDB, NCDC, IFFCO, KRIBHCO and NAFED.
“An institution that once supplied sugar mills and centrifugal machinery across the world had shut down during the Congress regime. Its 110 acres of land was gradually getting encroached upon. The Union Cooperation Ministry took the initiative to revive it,” he said.
Shah said the institution had been taken over with the involvement of NHEC and NDDB. Pending audits were completed, its board of directors was reconstituted and leading cooperative organisations invested in its revival, he added.
Following a resolution adopted at its board meeting on October 2, the foundation stone for its reconstruction is being laid today, he said.
The revived facility will manufacture machinery for sugar mills, power generation units, ethanol and compressed biogas (CBG) plants, as well as dairy equipment. It will also undertake container manufacturing for export markets, with plans to expand into railway, defence and airport-related containers in the second phase.
Shah said the initiative would promote a circular economy by ensuring every by-product of sugar mills and dairy operations contributes to the country’s economy and reduces dependence on imports.
Recalling the institution’s international presence, he said its sugar mill machinery had earlier been exported to 11 countries, including Zambia, Ethiopia and Vietnam.
He expressed confidence that production would commence at the facility before December 2027.
Shah also inaugurated the western regional office of the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies (CRCS) in Pune, which will regulate multi-state cooperative societies operating in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu.
“There had been competing demands from Maharashtra and Gujarat for locating the office, but it was eventually established in Pune. I congratulate Union Minister Murlidhar Mohol and all cooperative leaders from Maharashtra for bringing this important office to Pune,” he said.
Shah also announced the launch of Bharat Taxi in Pune, describing it as a cooperative alternative to private app-based taxi aggregators.
He said the cooperative initiative aimed to end the exploitation of drivers by private taxi companies and ensure they become owners and stakeholders in the enterprise.
“Those who were earlier called drivers are now our ‘Sarathi’ brothers and sisters. They own Bharat Taxi. It ensures complete transparency, and the entire fare is credited to the Sarathi’s account without any commission. The service has already been launched in Mumbai and Pune, with plans to expand to Nashik, Kolhapur, Nagpur and Solapur,” Shah said.
He also referred to a proposed industrial facility for ethanol, CBG and other chemical products in Kolhapur, which would be part of the broader cooperative development initiative.
Describing Maharashtra as the birthplace of the cooperative movement in western India, Shah said Pune and Maharashtra had played a pioneering role in establishing cooperative institutions even before Independence.
“The Ganga of cooperation that flowed across western India has its Gangotri in Pune and Maharashtra,” he said.
Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi established a separate Union Cooperation Ministry after 70 years of Independence, fulfilling a long-standing demand of farmers, rural women, milk producers and people associated with the cooperative sector.
This demand had been ignored by previous Congress governments, he said.
He said the government was strengthening Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), district-level cooperative institutions and dairy cooperatives.
The Centre had also extended tax relief of Rs 15,000 crore to sugar cooperatives, along with annual income-tax concessions of Rs 3,000 crore, he said.
Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar, Union Minister of State for Cooperation Murlidhar Mohol, state Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil, among others, were present at the event. (PTI)
