As they say, you can’t stop the march of time. HMT’s factory spaces that once produced its watches are set to move into the hands of the Indian Space Research Organisation.
The 208 acres of land in Jalahalli in Bengaluru and in Tumakuru, 70 km away, are being acquired at a time when ISRO finds its satellite assembly and tracking facilities in the city choked, with no hope of land to grow further.
While HMT has set a three-month transfer schedule, ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar said they are mulling options for using the land — from housing its new industry partners who are assembling satellites; decongest and expand ISTRAC’s spacecraft tracking systems at Peenya; to setting up a solar cell facility with BHEL.
