March 11, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 2, 1429

HYDERABAD, March 10: General Manager of Small and Medium Enterprises Develop-ment Authority (Smeda) Syed Iqbal Ahmed Qadwai has said that the work on glass products design centre has been started which will be completed in six months at a cost of Rs40 million.

He said this during his visit to the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry where he met chamber president Haji Mohammad Yaqoob and other office-bearers on Sunday.

He was accompanied by provincial chief of the authority Muslim Raza and manager Mukesh Kumar.

He said the president of the chamber and the president of glass bangles and manufacturers association, Mr Mohiyuddin will be the members of its board of management.

Mr Qadwai said besides research work, training will be imparted to the workers at the centre. He said during the first phase, a successful experiment had been carried out to reduce gas expenses by redesigning the glass furnace.

He said that with the establishment of the centre, a wide range of glass products including glass showpieces and daily use items will be manufactured in addition to glass bangles, while adding that due to the development of glass industry in Hyderabad new job will be created for the youth.

Speaking on the occasion, Haji Mohammad Yaqoob said due to the facilities provided by the Smeda the pace of development of small and medium industry has increased.

He urged the Smeda to set up an agro-based dehydration processing plant centre which should help the export of onion, lemon and chillies.

He said by establishing a mango pulp preservation plant, a sizeable amount of foreign exchange could also be earned.