Neemrana Signal — FIRE AUDIT: After a string of factory fires, how ready is Neemrana for the next one? — 28 Sept

A thermocol plant, an AC maker, a perfume factory where four people died. Neemrana's industrial fires keep returning. Gujarat's industrial estates show how shared firefighting can help.

Just after midnight on 22 November 2024, the Neemrana fire control room received a call. Parmar Thermopack, a thermocol factory in the Ghiloth industrial area, was on fire. The flames could be seen from kilometres away. Six fire engines came from Behror, Neemrana and Sotanala. Engines from Haryana were also called in. The fire took four to five hours to control, and it was still smouldering hours later. Nobody was hurt, but losses ran into crores of rupees.

That fire wasn't the only one.

• March 2026. Just before 3 AM, a blaze broke out at the Trans AC company in Ghiloth. Short-circuit was suspected, and the losses ran into crores.

• April 2026. A fire at a perfume factory in Neemrana killed four people. The District Collector then ordered every industrial unit to submit a detailed fire safety report.

• August 2022. A fire at Havells' Neemrana unit affected insured assets worth ₹150 crore.

• October 2017. A fire hit a diaper plant in the Japanese Zone.

The pattern

Three problems keep appearing in these reports. Many fires start late at night, when fewer people are on site to spot them early. Units that store flammable materials such as thermocol, packaging, chemicals and perfume can be engulfed in minutes. And local fire services often have to call in engines from Behror, Kotputli or even Haryana.

This doesn't mean firefighters are failing. It means an industrial area with hundreds of units needs more than a town-sized fire service.

What Gujarat does differently

In Gujarat's chemical belt, industry doesn't wait for the municipal fire brigade. In Ankleshwar, the industry-run Disaster Prevention and Management Centre (DPMC) handles fires, explosions and gas leaks across the Ankleshwar, Panoli, Jhagadia and Valia industrial estates.

Under India's hazardous chemicals rules, factories have to prepare an on-site emergency plan. It should include mutual aid agreements with neighbouring plants, the kind run through the Ankleshwar Industries Association or Vapi Green Enviro. District Collectors lead off-site emergency plans involving police, fire services, hospitals and village panchayats. Mock drills have to be held at least once a year, and most large sites hold them every six months.

Five steps for Neemrana

• An industry-run emergency centre. A shared fire and rescue unit for Neemrana and Ghiloth, funded by RIICO and member companies.
• Mutual aid agreements. Neighbouring factories agree to share fire engines, foam, water tanks and trained crews in an emergency.
• Response time targets. Publish how long fire engines take to reach each industrial zone, and set targets.
• Safety audits. Units storing thermocol, packaging, chemicals, solvents or perfume should be audited every year. After the April deaths, the Collector's demand for safety reports should become a permanent annual requirement.
• Night watch and early warning. Heat and smoke sensors linked to a shared control room, and trained night-shift fire wardens in every unit.

Questions Neemrana Signal Audit asks

Did every unit submit the fire safety report the Collector ordered in April? How many fire engines does Neemrana have today? How long does it take them to reach Ghiloth?

The state's single-window portal is busier than ever. Jaipur, Jodhpur and Ajmer lead the approvals. Neemrana needs a sharper pitch.

Rajasthan recorded investment proposals worth Rs,48,453.05 crore on its RajNivesh portal in August 2026, Chief Secretary V Srinivas said on Monday. Between April and August, 25,745 applications were approved through the portal.

The money is going mainly into renewable and conventional energy, energy parks, industrial parks, cement, tourism, hospitality and real estate.

Who's winning

Jaipur recorded the most approvals, 4,788, followed by Jodhpur with 1,897 and Ajmer with 1,270. The top five districts account for about 39 percent of all approvals. Kota, Jalore, Chittorgarh, Sawai Madhopur and Pratapgarh kept approval rates above 50 percent every month from April to August, and Dungarpur and Karauli improved.

Kotputli-Behror, the district that includes Neemrana, isn't named on either list.

What's changing in the system

The state says it's getting easier to invest:

• One portal, 190 services. RajNivesh now offers 190 services, and applications have nearly tripled since departments were integrated.

• Faster approvals. An Energy Department service that took 20 days now takes 5. A Consumer Affairs service fell from 14 days to 7, and a Health Department service from 7 days to 4.

• Deregulation. The first phase of the Deregulation and Compliance Reduction initiative covers all 23 priority areas, including land, labour, utilities, approvals and inspections.

• Help for MSMEs. RIICO now allows flexible land use in multi-storey factory complexes and ready-built units. At key industrial locations, 15-year leases can be extended by another 10 years.

The state also gave an example of what it wants: RIICO allotted 20 hectares in Kishangarh to Imperial Armory for a ₹162 crore defence and ammunition project expected to create about 200 jobs.

What Neemrana to pitch

Neemrana doesn't need to compete with Jaipur on everything. It should compete where it's strongest:

• Japanese and Korean supply chains. No other Rajasthan location has as many Japanese companies. Pitch Neemrana to their suppliers in Japan and Korea.
• Precision manufacturing and cooling. KRN's six-times expansion and Daikin's R&D centre make Neemrana a natural base for HVAC, data centre cooling and components.
• Ready-built units for MSMEs. Use RIICO's new flexible rules to fill multi-storey factory complexes with small suppliers.
• Industrial parks. Rajasthan's investors want industrial parks, and the Rajasthan Industrial Park Promotion Policy 2026 is already opening land for private parks elsewhere. Neemrana should seek one.
• Tourism and hospitality. Investors are interested in tourism and hospitality. The Neemrana fort, the arts weekends and business travel from NCR give it a case.
• Clean energy for factories. Energy draws the biggest investment interest. Rooftop solar and storage for industrial parks would also solve the power problems that Japanese investors have raised.

Jaipur and Jodhpur have visibility. Neemrana needs a single, up-to-date investment pitch book covering land availability, infrastructure, incentives, anchor companies, talent and living conditions. It should be ready for every investor who searches the RajNivesh portal.

Applications for the new phase run until 12 October. If you don't have a Rising Rajasthan MoU, there are other ways to get land from RIICO.

RIICO, the Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation, opened the 14th phase of its Direct Allotment Policy today. Applications run from 28 September at 10 AM to 12 October at 6 PM. The last three phases ran in quick succession. The 12th phase opened on 15 July and the 13th on 12 August.

Before anyone in Neemrana rushes to apply, there's a catch.

Step 1: Check you're eligible

This phase is for RR MoU holders only. Those are investors who signed memoranda of understanding with the state at the Rising Rajasthan Global Investment Summit. Investment proposals worth more than ₹8 lakh crore from that summit have now reached the ground-breaking stage, and the state is pushing for faster approvals. Direct allotment is one way RIICO turns those promises into plots.

If you have an RR MoU: This is your window. Apply for land without going through an auction.

If you don't: Don't apply. Look at the other options below.

Step 2: Other ways to get land for everyone else

• E-auction of industrial and non-industrial plots. Applications close on 13 and 14 October at 6 PM.

• Rental plots and ready-built spaces. Options include plug-and-play units, flatted factories and worker housing, with deposits (EMD) due by 13 and 14 October at 6 PM. These can suit small manufacturers and start-ups that want to start quickly without buying land.

• Jodhpur-Pali-Marwar Industrial Area. Plot applications close on 31 October.

Step 3: Prepare your application

The notice doesn't list the required documents, so check the phase's details on the RIICO website before you apply. Applicants for industrial land usually need:

• a copy of the MoU and its reference number
• the company's registration documents, PAN and GST details
• a project report showing the investment, the jobs to be created and how much land is needed
• financial statements or evidence of funding
• an authorised signatory's details and a digital signature for the online portal
• payment of any application fee or deposit

Step 4: Know the new rules before you sign

RIICO has changed several of its land rules in the past few days, and they affect every allottee:

• Time limit for using the plot. Rule 21 has been amended to change how long an allottee has to use the plot.

• Checking production has started. RIICO has also changed how it confirms that commercial production has begun on an allotted plot.

• Betterment charges. A 24 September circular on building regulations covers betterment levies.

• Rainwater harvesting. New norms for upcoming industrial areas were issued today.

• Fire incidents. RIICO can issue show-cause notices and cancel allotments in cases of fire incidents and prohibited activities. After Neemrana's recent factory fires, this matters.

Mistakes to avoid

• Applying for direct allotment without an RR MoU.
• Leaving it to the last day, when the portal gets busy.
• Asking for more land than your project report justifies.
• Ignoring the deadline for starting production after allotment.
• Treating fire and safety rules as paperwork. They can now cost you your plot.
• Paying agents who promise "guaranteed allotment". Apply only through the official RIICO portal.

What it means for Neemrana

Neemrana competes with every other RIICO industrial area for the investors who signed MoUs. Whether the 14th phase includes plots in Neemrana, Ghiloth or the Japanese Zone isn't clear from the notice. Neemrana Signal has asked the RIICO unit office in Ghiloth, and we'll update readers.

Neemrana Signal is tracking Rajasthan's new private industrial parks and the competition for manufacturing investment. We'll add updates as developers are named and new policies come through.

28 September, 7:40 PM: Sri City is winning Neemrana's strongest sector

Neemrana made its name as a base for cooling equipment, with Daikin's first Indian plant and KRN's expansion. Sri City in Andhra Pradesh, a private industrial township, is now attracting a stream of new AC and HVAC plants.

• LG Electronics: A Rs.5,000 crore, 247-acre plant is due to start production by December 2026. Air conditioners come first, followed by compressors, refrigerators and washing machines.

• Carrier: A Rs.1,000 crore, 39-acre cooling plant is planned, with 3,000 jobs. Carrier took just eight months from its first visit to getting the land.
• Daikin-Rechi India: This joint venture between Daikin and Taiwan's Rechi Precision has started a rotary compressor plant, with an investment of ₹547 crore in its first phase.
• Amber Enterprises: It's investing Rs.445 crore in room air conditioners and expects about 1,250 jobs.
• Hisense: Its first Indian plant, with capacity for 7.5 lakh room ACs a year, opened in Sri City in February.

Andhra Pradesh says its 'Speed of Doing Business' approach is the draw. Projects in Sri City's pipeline are worth more than ₹26,000 crore.

Why it matters for Neemrana: Daikin set up its first Indian plant in Neemrana. Its new compressor joint venture has gone to Sri City.

Sri City is an integrated business park of about 7,000 acres, built and run by a private developer. It employs more than 65,000 people, and its founder wants to pass 100,000. Andhra Pradesh has allotted a further 6,000 acres to expand it. Companies from about 50 countries are expected to work there.

What Neemrana can learn from it: One developer handles land, utilities, housing and investor support, and that speed attracts big projects.

17 September: Rajasthan clears 552 acres for three private parks

Rajasthan has cleared land for three private industrial parks totalling about 552 acres. The sites are Rajahera, Guda Ashikpura and Noorpur in Dausa, Vedarai in Balotra, and Bijauli in Dholpur. They come under the Model-A route of the Rajasthan Industrial Park Promotion Policy 2026, which lets private developers bid for government land.

Only about a quarter of the Rs.35 lakh crore promised at the summit has reached the ground. Neemrana Signal starts tracking what's actually being built in the Shahjahanpur–Neemrana–Behror corridor.

At the Rising Rajasthan Global Investment Summit, investors promised more than Rs,35 lakh crore. Nearly two years on, the government says proposals worth more than Rs,8 lakh crore have reached the ground-breaking stage. Additional Chief Secretary for Industries Shikhar Agarwal said the rest are at various stages of implementation.

That means about 23 percent of the promised money has reached ground-breaking. The other 77 percent is still in files, land searches and approvals.

The state is pushing for more ground-breakings

At a review meeting at the Secretariat, Chief Secretary V Srinivas told departments to speed up pending cases and approvals. He asked officials to work with district collectors to solve problems holding up projects. He singled out the Energy and Revenue departments, and asked for faster identification and allotment of land. Agarwal told officials to decide cases quickly, including rejecting the ones that can't be approved.

The government has set itself a deadline: more ground-breakings by 10 December, Pravasi Rajasthani Day.

The missing list

The state hasn't published a district-wise list of projects that have broken ground. For Kotputli-Behror, the district containing Neemrana, there's no public figure yet for how many summit MoUs have turned into construction. Our RajNivesh story showed the same gap: the leading approval districts are Jaipur, Jodhpur and Ajmer, and Kotputli-Behror isn't named.

So Neemrana Signal is starting its own list.

Corridor Project Tracker: first edition

These are projects and investments in the corridor reported publicly this year. They aren't all Rising Rajasthan MoUs, and we'll say which ones are as that's confirmed.

• How many Rising Rajasthan MoUs name Kotputli-Behror district, and what are they worth?
• How many have broken ground, and how many are stuck?
• What's holding them up: land, power, approvals or funding?
• Which will break ground by 10 December?

Rajasthan wants to process more of what its farmers grow. Principal Agriculture Secretary Manju Rajpal said 39 food parks are proposed under the Rajasthan Food Park Development Policy 2026, with land allocated at 35 locations. The state already has 1,500 agro-processing units and 1,850 micro food units supported under the Prime Minister's scheme for small food businesses. It's also mapping 10 agro-processing clusters, including mustard, cumin, garlic, guava and pomegranate, to find investment and export opportunities. "Farmers would receive better returns for their produce if the entire value chain from farm to market was strengthened," said Chief Secretary V Srinivas.

Neemrana already has a head start. In July 2026, AB InBev India started running Rochees Breweries Limited, a ₹200 crore brewery in Neemrana that serves Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and beyond. The company chose Neemrana to reach consumers across north India.

Looking at the availability of water and fertile land all around SNB corridor, the Neemrana Food Parks shall thrive exponentially.

There's also demand from the farming side. KisaanSay, the farmer-first brand founded by Nitin Puri, works with about 50,000 farmers through 25 farmer enterprises and shares half its profits with them. Its range includes Rajasthani wood-pressed mustard oil and achaars. These are the kinds of products a Neemrana food cluster could process, pack and send to NCR.

Neemrana is well placed for this. Tens of millions of NCR consumers are a few hours away, NH-48 runs to Delhi, Jaipur and the ports, and the town's factories are big buyers of canteen food and Diwali gifts. What it lacks is the infrastructure: a food park, shared cold storage, an FSSAI-standard testing lab, and a packaging and branding centre for small producers and farmer groups.

The state has the policy, NCR has the market and Neemrana has an anchor plant. With a food park of its own, Neemrana could become NCR's food processing gateway.

On the edge of Rajasthan's industrial gateway to NCR, two ventures are building a partnership around a shared idea. Neemrana can be more than a place where products are made. It can be a place where the future is designed, researched and lived.

The first is The Emerald Valley, a vision for a 3,000-acre sustainable technology city in Rajasthan, with 1,500 acres planned for the first phase. It's designed as a zero-waste, zero-emission, circular economy. Taking inspiration from Jaipur's pink and Jodhpur's blue, the city would adopt emerald green as its signature colour, a visual promise of environmental care. For every 100 acres developed, 30 acres would become forest to protect biodiversity. Its buildings would have vertical gardens and green roofs, solar walkways would link its districts, and its eco-tech campuses would be designed around energy efficiency. A circular economy complex would use AI-driven sorting to aim for near-total recycling. A planned solar farm, called the SolarSphere, would generate more than 500 MW of clean electricity, with water reclamation and grid-scale battery storage alongside it.

The vision's heart is education. The Emerald Valley plans at least 10 major technology universities and AI institutes, working with leading global universities such as MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley and Columbia. Its planned institutions include a Global Tech University, a Rajasthan Institute of AI, a Green Tech University, a Cyber Security Academy and a

Biotech Innovation Institute. Research would cover quantum computing labs, what the vision describes as the world's largest AI computing cluster, CRISPR and bioprinting labs, and a sustainable technology incubator for green start-ups. A quantum technology hub would explore applications in cryptography, drug discovery and financial modelling.

What connects the universities to the economy is project-based learning. Students would learn by solving real problems with industry partners, through courses designed with technology companies, and through internships, mentoring and lifelong upskilling. The target is a pipeline of 100,000 skilled professionals. A proposed "Tech Titan Terrace" would house the regional headquarters of global technology companies alongside incubators for start-ups, with open innovation platforms where large firms post challenges for students and founders to solve. In short, students and industry would share the same campus, the same problems and the same future.

The second partner is Briston, which is building homes and community in Neemrana. Briston is developing Indo-Japanese LDK residences, where living, dining and kitchen spaces are designed for Japanese families. Briston promises that its Japanese residences will be professionally managed to five-star standards. Families arriving from Nagoya, Osaka or Seoul would find maintenance, security, concierge support and community services taken care of, so they can settle in quickly.

Briston's plans go beyond housing. Its founder told Neemrana Signal that the company is investing in Neemrana's cultural life, with collaborations between Japanese, Korean and Indian artists and a planned Japanese art and culture centre for the community. Taking a cue from the Neemrana Music Foundation's AI-enhanced opera in Delhi, The Emerald Valley and Briston plan to launch Neemrana Arts weekends this winter. The weekends would bring art, craft markets, food festivals from Rajasthan, Japan and Korea, and community evenings where founders and factory workers eat together. The Emerald Valley's own cultural plans fit this well: Rajasthani cultural centres, AR-enhanced heritage experiences and digital craft centres where artisans use 3D printers and laser cutters.

This is why the two partners fit together. The Emerald Valley brings the long-term vision of sustainable technology, universities, quantum and AI research and industry partnerships. Briston brings what makes a place liveable today: homes, managed services, culture and community. A Japanese engineer might be drawn by The Emerald Valley's research ecosystem, but it's a well-run Briston home, a friendly neighbour at Diwali and a taiko performance on a winter weekend that would make them stay.

The two groups told Neemrana Signal that talks between them are continuing, and more details of their joint plans will be announced soon. If they deliver, Neemrana's story could change from an industrial town next to a highway to a city where technology, sustainability, learning and culture grow together.