HP initiates work on Bulk Drug Park, acquires 1000 bigha land

The Governor of Himachal Pradesh has constituted a nine-member committee to prepare a proposal for setting up of a Bulk Drug Park in Himachal Pradesh. Apart from preparing an effective proposal for the Bulk Drug Park, the committee will also be responsible for ensuring effective coordination between departments at the field level for this project.

It comes on the back of a meeting chaired by Jai Ram Thakur, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh on May 18, with the various associations of different industries. Here, one of the topics raised by the HDMA representative was setting up this bulk drug park.

Dr Rajesh Gupta, President, Himachal Drug Manufacturers Association (HDMA) and a member of the Bulk Drug Park Committee said, “The role of each committee member is to give subject insights and ensure Central Government’s requirements for identifying land for the Bulk Drug Park in the state.

He also informed, “For the Bulk Drug Park in Himachal Pradesh, the industrial association of Himachal Pradesh has already acquired 1000 bigha land in Nalagarh belt and is looking more land in Rupnagar district, towards Punjab and Himachal Pradesh border.”

The Bulk Drugs Park committee of Himachal Pradesh comprises

1 The Director of Industries, Himachal Pradesh – Chairman
2. The MD, HP State Industrial Development Corporation – Member
3. The Member Secretary, HP State Pollution Control Board – Member
4. The Additional District Magistrate Solan, Dist- Member
5. The Superintending Engineer, HP, PWD, Solan – Member
6. The Superintending Engineer Jal Shakti Department, Solan – Member
7. The Superintending Electrical Board, Solan – Member
8. The member secretary, Single Window Clearance Authority (SWCA), Baddi – Member
9. Dr Rajesh Gupta, President, Himachal Pradesh Drug Manufacturers Association

The committee will be involved and responsible for:

• Identification of suitable land as per the requirement of the Central Government for the allocation of Mega Bulk Drug Park.
• Assessing the infrastructural requirements of developing the land and suggesting follow up action thereon.
• Assessing and planning for the requirements of ancillary industries for the bulk drug park and interacting with the various industrial associations for suitably addressing the issues connected thereto. Coordinating with different departments especially at the field level for securing the necessary approvals and clearance for the establishment for the park.
• Submitting a complete proposal to the State Government which needs to be forwarded to the Government of India
• Sending reports to the Government from time to time regarding issues to be settled at Government level.

The Governor has also communicated to the committee member that, a preliminary report of the work, addressing the aforementioned terms of reference needs to be forwarded to the State Government within a one month. And later the committee can meet from time to time as required.

The Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial area has nearly 370 pharma units and is considered to be one of the largest pharma hubs in the country.

On March 21, 2020, the Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had approved three Bulk Drug Parks in the country, in partnership with the States. They are going to come up in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh. Reportedly, many other States are also trying to get approval from the Government for Bulk Drug Parks. These parks are part of measures to boost domestic manufacturing activities of critical key starting materials (KSMs), drug intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in the country.

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