Una Bulk Drug Park Gets Environmental Clearance

Shimla, Sep 12 (PTI) The upcoming Bulk Drug Park in Himachal's Una district has secured environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, officials said on Friday.

In order to make the country self reliant in APIs and drug intermediates, Department of Pharmaceuticals is implementing various schemes and one of the key interventions is the scheme for Bulk Drug Parks.

The environment clearance to Una park has paved the way for the establishment of the project that will reduce dependency on other countries for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs).

A spokesperson of the state's Industries department said the Bulk Drug Park entails total capital cost of Rs 2,071 crore, out of which Rs 996.45 crore is grant-in-aid from the Centre and Rs 1,074.55 crore would be spent by the state government.

The project holds an investment potential of Rs 8,000-10,000 crore and is expected to generate direct and indirect employment opportunities for 15,000 to 20,000 persons.

"The Bulk Drug Park at Una would significantly strengthen the state's position as a leading hub of pharmaceutical manufacturing in India and will also generate large-scale employment opportunities for our youth", said Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

Industries Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan said that the environmental clearance has paved the way for fast-tracking the next stages of development. This park would play a pivotal role in driving self-reliance in the pharma sector.

Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers had launched the scheme for promotion of bulk drug parks in March 2020, with guidelines notified by Department of Pharmaceuticals in July 2020.

The state industries department prepared and submitted the detailed project report which was appraised by the Project Management Agency (PMA) and subsequently accorded final approval by the Scheme Steering Committee (SSC) in October 2022.