Baddi to have pharma hub

Ambika Sharma

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Tribune News Service

Baddi, April 27

Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Ananth Kumar today announced a bulk drug pharma hub for the state’s industrial area of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh. It will be the third such park in the country after Ahmedabad and Andhra Pradesh.

He also announced a satellite centre of the National Institute of Pharmaceutical, Education and Research (NIPER).

Earlier, the minister and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh laid the foundation stone of a Rs 40.10 crore central institute of plastic engineering and technology (CIPET) centre in Baddi.

Ananth Kumar said Baddi was the hub of pharmaceutical industry contributing 35 per cent drugs to Asia. He said the Union Government was endeavouring to strengthen the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) industry in the country, which was presently dependent on China. He said the ministry was endeavouring to meet the demand of the APIs by opening bulk drug parks across India.

He said 28 CIPET centres were already operating in the country and 11 more had been approved in sync with the burgeoning demand of the industry. He said as per a survey conducted by their ministry, the manpower requirement in the plastic-based trades would be around 1.16 million by 2023-24 and that they barely produced 40,000 professionals annually.

As of now, India requires 9 lakh plastic engineers and skilled labourers. The aim is to increase the number to 80,000 by opening more CIPET centres.

The Chief Minister said the state government had released the first instalment of Rs 50 lakh to CIPET centre in January, adding that a budget of Rs 2 crore had been set aside for it.

He said they would provide free land for the upcoming NIPER centre. Virbhadra said the state government had started vocational education in as many as 500 schools where 35,000 students were acquiring various skills. He said the state government had provided jobs to 28,000 youths in the industrial sector in the last three years.

MoS, Chemicals and Fertilisers, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, said the Prime Minister was laying stress on skill development and ‘Make India’ campaign. He said the skill development would suffice the purposes of both employment to the unemployed and rise in the economic standards of an individual.

Technical Education Minister GS Bali said the proposal for setting up CIPET was received in 2015 and the government transferred around 35 bighas in the name of CIPET. He said the institute would go a long way in making the youth adaptable to the needs of the industry in any part of the country.

Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri also spoke on the occasion. Director General, CIPET, Dr SK Nayak was also present.

Earlier, Ananth Kumar and Virbhadra unfurled a 100 feet high National Flag adjacent to the office of the Superintendent of Police, Baddi.