Baddi, Asia’s largest pharma hub, is a sweet dream gone sour

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Baddi, Sep 6: A contour map of the Baddi belt shows just a series of undifferentiated blocks in a wide strip of land just off the foothills of the Himalayas. Closer home as one drives up to the most-discussed industrial belt just 40 km from Chandigarh, those blocks metamorphose into factories, mostly pharma but also manufacturing and IT. The most striking aspect, however, is the absence of any reasonably pucca road in the entire belt.

The Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial belt is the classic example of a sweet dream gone sour. It was brought into being by a massive tax incentive package in 2003, but successive governments at Shimla have only concentrated on ensuring that the tax holiday is extended beyond 2010 without bothering to develop the zone. The area has adequate power, a rarity in India, peaceful industrial climate and is close to the rich hinterland of Delhi, Chandigarh and Amritsar. But thanks to two decades of inaction—the first units set up shop here in 1991- the zone, which has become Asia’s largest pharmaceutical hub, could wither away as soon as the tax holiday goes.

Lack of infrastructure and haphazard industrial development in this town, located in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh, has given nightmares to investors and locals alike. Companies such as Omaxe, Amaravati, Shakun Infrastructure, Suncity projects are striving hard to find buyers for their housing complexes. An official from Omaxe Construction says, “We are constructing about 720 flats in Baddi. Though the bookings are on but the response is yet to pick up.”

The lackadaisical approach of the three state governments of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh towards improvement of the inter-state connectivity has been an impediment in trade expansion by the industrial units.

Unlike Dubai or Sharjah, this belt has earned the dubious distinction of making industry captains come out on the roads to demand roads, housing for their workers and even hospitals before the employees did so.

Rajender Guleria, president, Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh Industries Association (BBNIA), says only an ESIC hospital is coming up in the region for the factory workers and no big private hospital group is setting foot in Baddi.

"We have been approaching the chief ministers of Punjab and Haryana for a long time, but got a lukewarm response. Due to the non-cooperative attitude of Haryana and Punjab, industrial growth is suffering. Industrialists also find it difficult to deal with outbound customers due to poor connectivity," he says.

And the state government’s response has been the classic control mindset. To prevent further overloading of the ecosystem in Baddi, it is planning to freeze new industrial establishments. Baldev Thakur, deputy CEO, Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Development Authority, says, "Only those industries will be allowed to set up units in Baddi which already have acquired land. But the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Industries Association is opposing the move. To decongest Baddi, the state government has acquired 600 bighas for a new industrial area in village Manpura near Baddi. Another land of about 1,800 bighas in Bagheri village near Nalagarh has been identified for attracting fresh investments."

Where on one hand industrialists rue about poor condition of roads, on the other hand, locals complain about absence of good schools, hospitals and recreational facilities.

Vijay K Arora, senior VP (communication, administration & corporate affairs in HP, Vardhman Group says, "We have been present in Baddi since 1991 but have seen no significant development taking place as far as infrastructure and basic facilities are concerned. Even though the internal roads have improved, inter-state connectivity is still inadequate. Absence of proper healthcare facilities and schools make people stay and spend in the adjoining regions of Chandigarh and Panchkula."

And due to ever-expanding migrant labour force in the industrial belt, the area is slowly transforming into an unorganised slum. Thakur says, "The number of migrant labourers is on the rise and since there is no provision for accommodation of the workers in majority of the industrial units they live in slums." To tackle this problem, the Himachal government has approved a housing scheme for migrant labor force with CII as the facilitator. The pilot scheme proposes construction of about 12,000 studio apartments for 24,000 workers which will be developed in 500 clusters of 24 workmen dwellings.