The central government will open 100 generic medicine stores in Maharashtra. The government will also give a subsidy of Rs2.5 lakh to those interested in setting up shop, Union minister for chemical and fertiliser Ananth Kumar declared on Monday.
He also announced opening of medical devices park in Nagpur, bulk drug park in Aurangabad, a new campus of National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) in the state and two centres of Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology (CIPET) in Pune and Jalgaon.
He was speaking after meeting chief minister Devendra Fadnavis at Sahyadri guest house on Monday. Kumar said the Narendra Modi-led BJP government has decided to start 300 generic medicines across the country and 100 of them will be in Maharashtra.
“Most of them will come up on the premises of government medical colleges. This will help people in getting medicine at cheap rates. The central government will soon sign a MoU with the state government,” Kumar told reporters.
He said that generic medicine stores will be opened under the scheme of Prime Minister Janaushadhi Yojana and thus person will become eligible for subsidy of Rs2.5 lakh to set up shop.
Apart from this, the Union minister for chemical and fertiliser said India has to import 60% bulk drug from China for its requirement. The country is fully dependent on imports for medical devices.
“To make us self-sufficient in these sectors, the Modi government has decided to start bulk drug park in Aurangabad and medical devices park in Nagpur. The decision was taken as per the recommendations of VM Katoch Committee Report,” Kumar said.
The central government has also decided to start a plastic park in Chandrapur to recycle plastic waste under Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan. The project gets an investment of Rs1,000 crore and generates employment for 1 lakh people.