E-Paper
Lease out vaccine unit in TN to state govt, Stalin asks PM
Chennai: At a time when the country is facing shortage of the Covid-19 vaccines, chief minister MK Stalin on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hand over the Centre-owned vaccine manufacturing unit at Chengalpattu to Tamil Nadu government on the lease to commence vaccine production
Chennai: At a time when the country is facing shortage of the Covid-19 vaccines, chief minister MK Stalin on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hand over the Centre-owned vaccine manufacturing unit at Chengalpattu to Tamil Nadu government on the lease to commence vaccine production.
In his letter to the prime minister, Stalin said the central government-owned Integrated Vaccine Complex-HLL Biotech Limited at Chengalpattu, about 63 km from Chennai, was lying unutilised. “Mass vaccination is the most potent weapon available to us in this fight and hence it is absolutely necessary that we must ramp up domestic vaccine manufacturing capacity,” Stalin said, adding it would be in sync with Modi’s vision of ‘self-sufficient India’.
The Chengalpattu facility was established in 2012 and work is in the final stages of completion. The facility has presently released a tender, which closes on May 31, for private bidders to operate. The state has assured that it will look for a private partner to commence vaccine production at the earliest.
Stalin pointed out in his letter that the Centre has invested around ₹700 crore for the Integrated Vaccine Complex (IVC), which is almost complete but has been lying unutilised for want of additional funds.
“The recent attempt to find a private partner to run the IVC has also not borne fruit since there were no bidders for it,” Stalin said in his letter.
“I am very keen that this modern facility must be made functional immediately, in the interest of our state as well as our nation,” he added.
Stating that this would enhance the nation’s vaccine production capacity, Stalin proposed that assets of the IVC may be handed over to the state on lease without any past liabilities and full operational freedom. “A suitable financial arrangement for the central government to recover a part of its investment can be subsequently worked out, after the commencement of operations,” Stalin said.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu industries minister Thangam Thennarasu and DMK’s parliamentary party leader TR Baalu on Thursday met Union industries minister Piyush Goyal and minister of state, chemical and fertilisers, Mansukh Mandaviya, regarding the issue.
“The truth is that the Centre hasn’t been able to allocate enough vaccines for Tamil Nadu,” Baalu told reporters in Delhi. “It (the unit) requires an additional investment of ₹300 crore to be complete.” He added that the Centre has said it would get back to Tamil Nadu government on the matter in about a week.
On April 23, former chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami had also written to Modi urging him to bring this facility to working condition at the earliest, in order to augment the production of Covid-19 vaccines.
