Cipet headquarters not being shifted to New Delhi, says HN Ananth Kumar

Chennai: Amid wide-scale opposition to shifting of the Cipet headquarters to New Delhi from here, Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister H.N. Ananth Kumar on Wednesday said there was no such move and that only an "alternative headquarters" is being set up in the national capital to cater to the entire country.
He also said the Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Mansukh L. Mandaviya will visit Chennai on Thursday to clear the “misconception” that the Cipet headquarters would be shifted out of the city and meet with employees of the institute and get to know their side of the story.

“Chennai will continue to be the headquarters of the Cipet. We are only creating another head quarters, actually an alternative head quarter, in New Delhi to cater to the entire country. We want to have regional head quarters in the future and our idea is to have 100 Cipets in India," Mr Kumar told reporters in New Delhi.
He said there was a "misconception” that the head quarter is being shifted and that it has to be cleared. Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology is one of the premier institutes in the country and now has 39 centres across the country.

“When the Narendra Modi government took over there were only 23 Cipets in the country. Within a short period of two-and-a-half years, we opened 16 more centres taking the total number of such institutes in the country to 39. We have clubbed it with Skill India and we intend to open 100 CIPETs in the country," the Minister said.

Mr Kumar said his junior minister Mr Mandaviya would allay the concerns of the employees in CIPET, Chennai about the alternative head quarter in New Delhi during his visit on Thursday. “In fact, he would hold talks on strengthening the Cipet in Chennai,” the minister said.

Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu have been staunchly opposing the move to shift the Cipet hq to New Delhi, saying the Minister, who hails from Karnataka, was behind it. They had also participated in protests organised by Cipet employees in Chennai on Tuesday against the proposed move by the Union government.
Government of India established Cipet in 1968 with the main objective of developing manpower in different disciplines of Plastics Engineering & Technology.