Six mega pharma parks will be set up in India including one at Raichur in Karnataka, DV Sadananda Gowda, Minister for Chemicals, Fertilisers and Pharmaceuticals, announced at a press conference here on Monday.
He was addressing media on the Udyoga and Kaushalya Mela to be held in Nandini Layout on March 15 for spot employment of youngsters by various IT companies and banks.
"We are taking stock of active pharmaceutical ingredients available in our country. As soon as this news came out in China, we had a detailed meeting with pharma industrialists. It is sufficient for another three months," he said.
Pharma 2020 Mela in Ahmedabad reiterated that nobody needs to worry about API shortage, he added.
"Many districts in China have started manufacturing APIs. I do concede that our country did not take formation of API parks and pharma parks seriously in the earlier days. Now we have already planned for that. We are going to have six mega pharma parks in various corners of the country including one at Raichur," Gowda said.
On shortage of masks and hike in its prices, he said that there are two faces to it. One, a black market, and two, those who are sending false propaganda. "I don't think there is a shortage of N95 masks. After media reports, we found out the black marketers and everything has been resolved," he said.
Some people may prefer only certain brands, he said. "There may be shortage in certain brands but practically there is no shortage. Drug controllers have taken action," he added.
When DH had contacted the Karnataka drug controller about acting upon those hike on MRPs of masks, he had said that masks are not drugs and it does not come under his purview and the Department of Legal Metrology is responsible. The Legal Metrology department in turn said it is waiting for consumers to lodge a complaint.
On pointing out the same to Gowda, he said, "There is a group of five ministers. My state minister is also a part of it. They are taking decisions and doing it. We will hold a high level meeting and take stock of the situation," Gowda clarified.
Udyoga and Kaushalya Mela
The job Mela to be held in SG International Public School in association with Rooman Technologies is expected to provide jobs to 500 youngsters on the spot. More than 120 companies are expected to participate including IBM, Benz, Dell, Microsoft, Big Bazaar, ICICI, HDFC, Eureka Forbes, Flipkart and Airtel.
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