Tripura Gets India's Second Rubber Park

India's second industrial rubber park has come up in Bodhungnagar in western Tripura to boost the country's elastic polymer industry. Tripura Chief Minister Mr Manik Sarkar inaugurated the park at Bodhjangnagar on Jan. 27, 2012.

The park, a joint venture between the Tripura Industrial Development Corporation (TIDC) and the Rubber Board, is the second of its kind in the country after the rubber park in Irapuram, Kerala.

At least 20 rubber-based industrial projects would be set up in the park in the next few years. The rubber park was built on an area of about 58 acres of land in the Bodhungnagar industrial growth centre in western Tripura and over Rs 75 crore are expected to be invested in the park over a period of three years.

A big rubber product development and display centre and a rubber museum have been set up in the park, which would lead to significant direct employment generation for 1,000 to 1,500 people.

The products proposed to be manufactured in the rubber park include cycle and two-wheeler tyres and tubes, retreading of old tyres, auto components, flaps, chappals, sports goods, latex foam, coated fabrics, hot water bag, hose, mattresses and pillows, automotive rubber components and rubber threads.

Products from the park, funded by the union commerce ministry under the ASIDE (Assistance to States for Development of Export Infrastructure and Allied Activities) scheme, are expected to meet the needs of northeastern states and neighboring countries.