Laying of the foundation stone for the multi-crore rail coach factory at Latur is scheduled to take place on March 31. The project is expected to generate direct and indirect employment for more than 50,000 people.

Harangul budruk located on the outskirts of Latur has been identified for setting up the project. Rs.500 crore will be spent during the first phase as announced by the authorities.

Latur district collector G Shreekanth said that the central and state authorities have finalised 339 acre of land at Harangul budruk to set up the coach factory.

Shreekanth said, “A special review meeting had taken place at the state secretariat recently for speeding up formalities related to the project and offering necessary clearances.”

State labour minister and guardian minister of Latur Sambhaji Patil-Nilangekar held a special meeting on Sunday.

He claimed that the coach factory will be the first of its kind mega project coming up at Marathwada, which is suffering from a developmental backlog.Within days of the announcement about setting up of the rail coach factory at Latur, the state government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Railways to set up the facility in Marathwada town on the sidelines of Magnetic Maharashtra.

The singing of MoU had taken place close on the heels of high level meeting between union railway minister and the chief minister on January 31 at Mumbai.

During the meeting Latur was finalised for setting up the project. BJP spokesperson Shirish Boralkar said that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis must be credited for rail factory project at Latur. He said, “The chief minister from the beginning has paid attention to address the issue of imbalanced regional development in the state.

The project will prove to be a milestone for development of Marathwada and will put it on the national map.”As per the MoU, state government is expected to provide land on concessional rate for setting up the project and facilitate rail connectivity including land required for it.