Plans to make Nalagarh a pharma hub

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, February 10

The state government is exploring the possibility of setting up a bulk drug hub in the industrial area of Nalagarh to attract pharmaceutical investors.

A committee comprising officials of the Industry Department and the State Pollution Control Board has been constituted to identify suitable land for this purpose.

Mukesh Agnihotri, Industries Minister, said they were trying to bring big pharmaceutical investors so that more youth could be employed.

Sources in the industry said land near Mahadev Khud in the Nalagarh industrial area had been identified for this purpose and the committee was working out the nitty-gritty for converting it into a bulk drug hub.

The state government in its single window clearance agency meeting held in January last year accorded its principal approval to Lupin Pharma and Torrent Pharma to set up bulk drug units.

Efforts were also made to attract bulk drug manufacturers during the investors’ meet in November last year, in which officials had informed the investors that the state had excluded this category from the negative list.

Since the bulk drugs comprise highly toxic-waste emitting industries, they figured in the negative list and are not liable for any monetary incentive. The state’s industrial hub of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh had therefore failed to attract major pharmaceutical investment.

In a bid to ensure that the pollution issue was effectively addressed, the joint committee was on the lookout for a secluded place. The site near Mahadev Khud was one such spot, which was identified by the committee.

There are nearly 650 pharmaceutical industries in the state, where the share of bulk drug manufacturers is less than two per cent.

Morepen Labs was among the major bulk drug manufacturers here. Options such as setting up of a common effluent treatment plant also figured in the list of suggestions to address the environmental concerns.

Since bulk drugs fall in the list of 17 most polluting industries categorised by the Central Pollution Control Board, officials of the State Pollution Control Board will have an additional burden of monitoring their online norms as it has been made compulsory from last year.

SL Singla, president, Himachal Drug Manufacturers Association, while terming it as a major step which will give impetus to the pharmaceutical sector, said this was the right time to attract major bulk drug manufacturers as the Union Government was aiming to attain self-sufficiency in the pharmaceutical trade by offering several sops.