Pharma units located in Himachal Pradesh have come out against the move to bring them under Central Drug Authority.
In recent years, Himachal Pradesh has become a hub of pharma units in view of special concessions including a tax holiday in the hill state. The state at present has more than 500 pharma units many of which had shifted from Punjab and Haryana to avail special concessions that the state offered.
Talking to FE here on Thursday RC Juneja, president, Himachal Pharma Units Association, said, ?The Centre has been trying to push the proposal of establishment of Central Drug Authority to centralise the licensing system. The proposal to establish a CDA will be a marked shift from the existing system wherein the implementation of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, including licensing is done by the state government and responsibility of legislation, policy, import and approval of new drugs is handled by the Centre. This practice is followed from the enactment of Act and is also necessary as the subject of drug is on the Concurrent list of the Constitution of India?.
Juneja said, ?The proposal to establish CDAis inconsistent with the pharma policy and the recommendations of Mashelkar Committee which had clearly stated that establishing additional authority is not a solution to the problem at hand?.
Sanjay Sharma who has a pharma unit at Baddi and is an office bearer of the association told FE that ?the establishing CDA and centralising the licensing system will only lead to concentration of powers in the hands of the Centre. The proposal is thus against the principles of de-centralisation adopted in India by delegating powers up to Panchayat level. As per present scenario of globalisation, everybody is doing decentralisation for better working and controls where as the Centre is again going to centralise the working of drug control departments by establishing CDA?.
The main opposition of pharma units comes from the fact that ?the move to bring pharma untis under CDA would lead to concentration of powers. The problem is further compounded due to inadequate infrastructure, lack of accessibility and inadequate manpower available with Central Drug Authority.?
The pharma units will face inconvenience in filing and processing of their applications, inconvenience in filing the appeals against the order of the licensing authority as for everything they will have to go to Delhi or to zonal offices catering to few states. CDA will recruit fresh manpower where as state governments have already got skilled and competent manpower. Also the state governments have developed infrastructure for renewal, grant of licenses and also periodical inspection.
The association said manufacture, sale and distribution is a composite activity and therefore it is necessary that only one agency is responsible for monitoring the activity of the manufacturers, distributors and retailers. The proposal will also lead to substantial loss of revenue to the state governments.
It also said due to concentration of licensing powers, the industry may be moving out to various places all over the country for sake of convenience in handling licensing issues. This will also lead to migration of ancillary industry and loss of jobs.