Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday laid the foundation stone for Gujarat’s first bulk drug park at Jambusar in Bharuch district. Estimated to cost `2,500 crore, the sprawling park would be spread over 2,015 hectares of land.
On the occasion, Prime Minister reiterated his call for vocal-for-local saying that it is a step towards making the nation Aatmanirbhar (self-reliant) in the pharmaceutical sector as the upcoming bulk drug part would contribute to reducing sourcing of important raw material for the pharma industry in coming days.
The PM asked people to contribute to the Aatmanirbhar Bharat mission by using locally made things during Diwali as they will help the local businesses and artisans. “The Indian economy has reached the fifth position from 10th place in 2014,” he said adding that the feat was made more momentous by the fact that India surpassed its erstwhile colonial masters.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the importance of the pharma sector. Gujarat helped the country a great deal in the war against Covid. The state accounts for a 25% share of the country’s pharma export. However, the primary ingredients or the bulk drugs for most of the Active Pharma Ingredients (APIs) produced in India are being imported. Development of bulk drug parks in the country would reduce dependence on imports of raw materials,” he claimed.
Apart from the bulk drug park, the Prime Minister also laid the foundation stones for the `550 crore Deep-Sea pipeline project. He also did groundbreaking for four tribal industrial parks worth `127.58 crore, `90 crore sea-food park and `177 crore MSME park. He also inaugurated `4,000 crore projects of the state-owned Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals (GACL) that includes `2,300 crore caustic soda unit with an integrated power plant, `850 crore chloromethane plant, `405 crore Hydergine Hydride (HH) unit and expansion project of existing caustic soda plant worth `550 crore.
“In the last two decades, Gujarat has transformed from a state lagging in every field to a thriving industrial and agricultural state. With busy ports and a developing coastline, the lives of the tribal and fisherman community got transformed,” he added.