Changing face of Agra: Foundry industries to IT hub
Vijay Upadhyay
AGRA. With the new generation taking up the reins of the majority of industries in Agra, the city is slowly giving way to the development of the IT industry, replacing the age-old foundry industry of this city, which had, for almost two hundred years, supported the economy of Agra single-handedly.
This deduction was made by the Agra industrialists during a get-together organised on the occasion of the 57th Foundation Day of the National Chamber of Industries and Commerce (NCIC), UP in Agra on Sunday.
Talking to The Pioneer on this occasion, Rajiv Gupta, president, NCIC said that beginning 57 years ago as a consortium of Agra foundries, the NCIC had come a long way, from an organisation of Iron foundry units to a future conscious establishment.
He said that with more than 200 Iron foundry units of Agra either shut down or facing closure due to pollution threats to the Mughal monument Taj Mahal, the NCIC was now shifting its focus towards less energy consuming and non-polluting industries that were either based on electricity or non-conventional fuels.
He said that the stress was now on to develop Agra as an IT hub as the IT industry was completely free from pollution and earned valuable foreign exchange for the country.
According to Mr Gupta, another industry that could flourish in Agra was solar power generation, but there was a lot of research and market study required to establish solar-cell production industry in the town, for which, the chamber was prepared to support the entrepreneurs venturing in this field.
He said that when the chamber was founded just after Indian independence by a small group of industrialists, Agra used to be dotted with cloth mills and foundries but while the cloth mills shut down soon afterwards, the foundries continued to flourish till 1990s and it was only after the environmentalists raised concern over the foundry smoke affecting the Taj Mahal, that the foundry industry began to crumble down.
He said, the chamber had more than 900 members and the numbers were growing with the IT and tourism industry joining the chamber.
(UNITED NEWS NETWORK)
Email: piovijay@yahoo.co.in, Ph: +91-9412282297, 9319108697
AGRA. With the new generation taking up the reins of the majority of industries in Agra, the city is slowly giving way to the development of the IT industry, replacing the age-old foundry industry of this city, which had, for almost two hundred years, supported the economy of Agra single-handedly.
This deduction was made by the Agra industrialists during a get-together organised on the occasion of the 57th Foundation Day of the National Chamber of Industries and Commerce (NCIC), UP in Agra on Sunday.
Talking to The Pioneer on this occasion, Rajiv Gupta, president, NCIC said that beginning 57 years ago as a consortium of Agra foundries, the NCIC had come a long way, from an organisation of Iron foundry units to a future conscious establishment.
He said that with more than 200 Iron foundry units of Agra either shut down or facing closure due to pollution threats to the Mughal monument Taj Mahal, the NCIC was now shifting its focus towards less energy consuming and non-polluting industries that were either based on electricity or non-conventional fuels.
He said that the stress was now on to develop Agra as an IT hub as the IT industry was completely free from pollution and earned valuable foreign exchange for the country.
According to Mr Gupta, another industry that could flourish in Agra was solar power generation, but there was a lot of research and market study required to establish solar-cell production industry in the town, for which, the chamber was prepared to support the entrepreneurs venturing in this field.
He said that when the chamber was founded just after Indian independence by a small group of industrialists, Agra used to be dotted with cloth mills and foundries but while the cloth mills shut down soon afterwards, the foundries continued to flourish till 1990s and it was only after the environmentalists raised concern over the foundry smoke affecting the Taj Mahal, that the foundry industry began to crumble down.
He said, the chamber had more than 900 members and the numbers were growing with the IT and tourism industry joining the chamber.
(UNITED NEWS NETWORK)
Email: piovijay@yahoo.co.in, Ph: +91-9412282297, 9319108697
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