Telangana to move privilege motion against Centre

Decision comes after union Minister says Centre sanctioned bulk drug park in Hyderabad, contradicting written reply.

Hyderabad: The Centre was caught on the wrong foot in Lok Sabha on Friday, when Chemicals and Fertilisers minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced that the Centre had sanctioned a bulk drug park in Hyderabad and that it will receive Rs 1,000 crore. However, in a written reply on the same issue, the Centre maintained that only Andhra Prdesh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh were cleared for establishing bulk drug parks. Following the contradictory statement, the BRS decided to move a privilege motion against the minister acusing him of misleading the House.

The issue figured during question hour, when Mandaviya was replying to a question raised by BRS floor leader Nama Nageshwara Rao. The minister said the Centre received proposals from 13 States for establishment of bulk drug parks including Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Of these, the proposals of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh were approved and Rs 900 crore were allocated for 2022-23 towards first instalment where Rs 300 crore have been already released to Gujarat.

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The Minister said the bulk drug parks will help reduce the country’s dependence on other countries for chemicals used by the pharmaceutical industry. India exported bulk drugs worth Rs 33,320 crore in financial year 2021-22. He also said there was no proposal to expand the scheme for Promotion of Bulk Drug Parks to other States.

However, while answering a supplementary raised by Nageshwara Rao on whether the Centre had any plans to set up a bulk drug park specifically in Hyderabad, a major hub for bulk drug manufacturing, Mandaviya told him: “Hyderabad is an important place for pharma industries. I want to inform the MP that the Centre has approved application from Telangana for setting up a bulk drug park in Hyderabad which will receive Rs 1,000 crore.” This oral answer was in contradiction to the written reply given.

Later speaking to the mediapersons, Nageshwara Rao objected to the discrimination in establishment of bulk drug park in Telangana. He said the Telangana government submitted its application for sanction of the bulk drug park within stipulated time. He stated that Hyderabad was the largest bulk drug manufacturer in the country and was suitable for setting up the park. He reminded that Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao wrote numerous letters to the Centre in this regard, but in vain.

“The union Minister made a false and misleading statement in the House, undermining the democracy. Though he did not mention anywhere in the written answer, the union Minister unabashedly lied in the Parliament stating that the Centre approved the bulk drug park to Hyderabad and sanctioned Rs 1,000 crore. This is unacceptable. It is unfortunate that the union Minister himself is making confusing statements. The Centre should clarify on the issue,” he demanded.