Jaitley unveils BEML's third metro production line in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday unveiled the third line of metro manufacturing facility of the state-run Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) here to ramp up its production to meet the demand for more such cars.

"The third line will enable the company to increase production capacity to 27 cars from 18 per month by augmenting jigs, fixtures and machines," said Jaitley on the occasion.

The BEML has supplied about 1,200 metro cars to metro corporations in New Delhi, Bengaluru and Jaipur and has orders from Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Lucknow to produce for their metro projects.

Earlier in the day, Jaitley visited the defence major's complex at Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) in Bangarapet, about 100 km from here, and rolled out its 180-tonne hydraulic excavator, which was designed and developed in-house as part of the government's "Make in India" initiative.

BEML Chairman and Managing Director Deepak Kumar Hota handed over the first hull of T-72 battle tank variant to the Ordnance Factories Board (OFB) in the presence of the minister.

As an industrial organisation, the OFB functions under the Department of Defence Production.

Jaitley also inspected the various defence products made by the BEML and saw their demonstration.

The minister also rolled out the company's 850-HP diesel-powered crawler bulldozer for the mining industry.

"Our bulldozer BD475-1 is an import substitution to higher capacity dozers being imported by the user industry," said Hota on the occasion.

The 180-tonne hydraulic excavator is also an import substitute for use in mega mines.

"We have collaborated with OFB for various projects to increase our contribution to the armed forces.

"The hull for T-72 tank variants will help reduce import of hulls by OFB due to capacity constraint," added Hota.

Jaitley, who is also the Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, was on a day-long visit to the city for participating in a couple of events, including the launch of state-run Vijaya Bank's 100 digital villages, 100 branches and 100 ATMs offering.

As Defence Minister, Jaitley also launched the production of state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL)-designed Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) here.