Indus Valley Times

By Swgatika Bhutia/ Alisha Sahoo

Bhubaneswar, May 22:  Former Union minister Srikant Kumar Jena  on Saturday drew the attention of Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik to the closure of Odisha Drugs and Chemicals Ltd (ODCL), and sought his intervention to revive the unit.

ODCL was the Odisha’s only public sector drug manufacturing unit which was a joint venture between Government of India and Government of Odisha.

“ODCL is a profitable unit but surprisingly the Government of India has decided to shut it down and liquidate its assets in the middle of a pandemic. However, I was shocked to learn this decision also had consent of the State Govt and IPICOL (which has a 49 per cent share in ODCL),” Mr Jena said in a letter to the CM.

ODCL started making profit from 2010-11 till its closure in December, 2020. The annual profit was about Rs 2 crore with an annual turnover of approximately 100 crores (using market prices for its products). In fact, the company had almost become debt/liability free by clearing off past dues over recent years, the ex-minister added.

“To give you more background, ODCL’s had received an infusion of Rs 5 crore from the UPA-2 government, when I was the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers (under whom the Department of Pharmaceutical resided). This cash infusion helped it to become a viable unit from then onwards. With GMP Compliance, this unit has been producing essential drugs notified by the Govt of India, with a monthly production of approximately 2 crore capsules, 3 crore tablets, 25 lakh ORS, 2 lakh liquid orals, and 30 lakh injections (both vial and ampoule). Surprisingly, while the unit sold their products to other states, the Odisha state government did not place a single purchase order. Additionally, the present land value of this unit is approximately Rs 200 crore apart from its fixed assets,” Mr Jena stated.

Stating that ODCL was a gift to Odisha by the Janata Party govt in 1977 with the main objective of production of essential quality drugs at affordable price for people of Odisha and other eastern states, the former minister said Biju Patnaik and Shri Rabi Ray were both cabinet ministers in that government.

“My humble submission to you is please buy back 51 per cent shares of IDPL (whose market price is only Rs 64 lakh) in the greater interest of Odisha. Vaccine production is the greatest challenge today. If we can rope-in a strategic partner then we can achieve this in the shortest possible time through ODCL and this can be an asset for Odisha in the future. Please intervene and do not allow this precious unit to die,” Mr Jena pleaded in the letter.