State Govt’s Fast Move; New Drug Park Near Dighi Port | Maharashtra government to set up bulk drug park near dighi port in raigad zws 70

Jayesh Samant, Loksatta

Thane : Raigad by the state government for the much talked about bulk drug park project In two taluks namely Shrivardhan and Roha in the district, the site has been selected for Dighi Bandar Industrial Area. The state government, which faced criticism from the opposition last year on the allegation that the project had gone to a foreign state, has started fast-tracking the project.

During the Mahavikas Aghadi government, an area of ​​1,994 hectares in 17 villages of Roha and Murud talukas was reserved for the Bulk Drug Park project. However, the project stalled due to local opposition and pending approval from the central government. Keeping in view the obstacles in the land acquisition process due to the opposition of the locals, the state government has started the steps to build a bulk drug park project on the three thousand hectares area already acquired for industrial development by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation. The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation has decided to appoint a business consultant to study how financially feasible it will be to set up this project through private developers in Dighi Port Industrial Area. Through this consultant, preparation of financial and technical feasibility report of the project, project proposal and terms and conditions for participation of private developer will be determined. The proposal was approved in the recently held board meeting of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation. The state government had given word about this project last year. Industries Minister Uday Samant clarified that it is being followed.

ALSO READ >>> Milk prices collapse due to excess production; Exports disrupted due to Corona, 15 percent increase in production

Acquisition of additional space?

During the Mahavikas Aghadi government, there is a strong opposition from the locals to give reserved land in 17 villages of Murud and Roha talukas of Raigad district for the construction of bulk drug park. BJP also took the side of these local protesters and opposed the project. It was seen that the party actively participated in the agitation. Considering the opposition to land acquisition, the state government through Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation has decided to utilize the land already acquired for Digha Industrial Area for this project. An area of ​​4016 hectares in Srivardhan, Roha taluk has been notified for Dighi Bandar Industrial Zone. Out of this, 2850 hectares of land has already been taken over by MIDC after paying compensation. Apart from this, the process of acquiring another 1166 hectares area is going on and some works have already been approved to provide facilities in this area. Therefore, this park will be developed in this developed industrial zone.

What was the argument?

The central government had issued a notification in June 2020 to develop bulk drug parks in selected states of the country. Some of the objectives of the scheme were to provide easy access to world-class shared facilities to pharmaceutical industries and to increase the competitiveness of these industries. According to this plan, the then Mahavikas Aghadi decided to develop such a park on an area of ​​1 thousand 994 hectares in 17 villages of Roha and Murud talukas of Raigad district. It was taken by the government. A detailed proposal in this regard was sent to the Central Government for approval in 2020. However, this proposal has not been approved by the central government. A few months after the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state, former Environment Minister Aditya Thackeray He had tried to catch the state government in a dilemma on this issue.

It has been decided to set up a ‘Bulk Drug Park’ in Dighi Bandar Industrial Area through the State Government and ‘MIDC’. The process of appointing a consultant has been started to conduct a detailed study on how exactly this project should be, how much should be the share of private entrepreneurs participating in it, and it is believed that thousands of jobs will be created from the project.-Uday Samant, Minister of Industries