To overcome shortage and reduce dependence on imports, Railway Minister Lalu Yadav on Tuesday announced the setting up of wheel manufacturing plant at Chhapra, his Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar.

Presenting the Railway Budget in the Lok Sabha, he said that a detailed project report will be prepared on it.

The wheel plant would be in addition to the plant at Bangalore and the Durgapur Steel plant.  Despite these two plants, there is a capacity shortfall, which is estimated to be around 60-70 thousand wheels by 2009-10.

The major raw material for the plant was scrap steel which was abundantly available with Indian Railways. With the setting up of the third plant at Chhapra, "We will move a step closer to self sufficiency." Prasad said.