HP’s pharma industry in a fix amid labour, raw material shortage

The surging virus cases have hit the pharma hub in Himachal Pradesh’s Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial area hard as the cost of raw material has trebled due to the ban on international cargo flights and delayed clearance by China

With the Himachal Pradesh government reimposing lockdown to arrest the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, pharmaceutical units in the state have yet again found themselves grappling with logistical issues, scarcity of workers, black marketeering and skyrocketing prices of raw materials and active pharmaceutical ingredients .

(Representative Image/HT )

The surging virus cases have hit the pharma hub in Himachal Pradesh’s Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial area hard as the cost of raw material has trebled due to the ban on international cargo flights and delayed clearance by China, prompting pharma industry stakeholders to ask the Centre to set up a national-level task force to monitor the prices of active pharmaceutical ingredients.

The issue was raised during Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur’s meeting with the captains of the pharma industry on Thursday. The industry has asked the state government to relax lockdown to facilitate enhanced production. “We are ready to bear the cost of vaccination. The government should vaccinate the entire industrial work force in Himachal,” said Rajesh Gupta, president, Himachal Pradesh Drug Manufacturers’ Association (HDMA).

Industrialists have asked the government to ply buses in industrial areas of Himachal bring back workers. They said that they were willing to bear double the transportation cost for its workforce.

Known as ‘Asia’s pharma hub’, due to the large number of pharmaceutical units in the hill-state, Himachal had produced a major chunk of the 50 million hydroxychloroquine tablets shipped to the United States of America during the first wave.

Amid nationwide shortage of health infrastructure, Thakur urged the industry to set up manufacturing units for medical equipment such as oxygen concentrators and vylinders.

Additional chief secretary industries Ram Subhag Singh said ESI Hospital, Kala Amb, will be inaugurated at the earliest. He said construction of the 220 KV substation at Kala Amb in Sirmour district will also start soon.

Director-cum-commissioner industries Hansraj Sharma said, “So far, the state government for ensuring the industry’s production goes uninterrupted.”