Punjab FM meets Gowda, asks to set up pharma park in Bathinda

Badal informed the Union Minister that Bathinda is the best positioned destination to set up a pharmaceutical park, and a tranche of 1,350 acre of land is readily available for the venture, an official release said. The land has been vacated by the erstwhile Bathinda thermal plant.

Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal on Monday met Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers D V Sadananda Gowda, and sought setting up of a pharmaceutical park in Bathinda. Badal informed the Union Minister that Bathinda is the best positioned destination to set up a pharmaceutical park, and a tranche of 1,350 acre of land is readily available for the venture, an official release said.

The land has been vacated by the erstwhile Bathinda thermal plant. Further, a functional railway siding and infrastructure is also available for supply of raw materials and carriage for the pharma industry, it added. Badal also thanked Gowda for his prompt and positive response in providing an opportunity to present the case for Punjab.

The central government has already announced its intention to establish three pharmaceutical parks in the country. Badal also requested Gowda to depute a team to visit the site, the release said.

"The proposed park in Bathinda could cater to the entire area north of Delhi, reaching out to Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, neighbouring Rajasthan, and even Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh," Badal said. He said pharma ecosystem in Punjab is scalable as it is home to some of the biggest US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved pharmaceutical companies.

The research and development ecosystem of Punjab is bolstered by the presence of institutes like NIPER, IISER, Institute of Microbial Research, Institute of Nano Technology, and AIIMS, and this will be hugely beneficial to those companies desirous of setting up business in Punjab, the release said..