Even after more than six months since the Planning Commission's directive to revive the CLCSS scheme in lieu of the PTUF scheme to assist thousands of SSI drug units for the technological upgradation of their manufacturing facilities in compliance with the GMP, the department of pharmaceuticals (DoP) is yet to take any concrete steps to make the scheme user-friendly as per Planning Commission's directive.

The industry associations had made several representations in this regard but senior officers are just passing the buck. As if to hoodwink the industry, the DoP convened some meetings without taking any concrete measures to make the scheme industry-friendly, sources said.

When contacted, joint secretary in the DoP Devinder Choudhury refused to talk on the issue. That the department is insensitive to the burning issue is evident from the fact that it did not do much on the issue even after six months of the Planning Commission's directive.

On March 2 this year, the Planning Commission had turned down the Rs 560-crore pharmaceutical technology upgradation fund (PTUF) scheme proposed by the DoP. Though senior DoP officials tried to convince the planning commission officials about the urgency to disburse the fund without much delay, the planning commission members took strong objection to the scheme on the plea that the government has already started a scheme, Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS), launched by the ministry of small scale industries for the technology upgradation of small and medium industries. The commission asked the DoP officials to tweak the CLCSS scheme to make it industry-friendly.

Although the DoP had held some joint meetings with concerned ministries, no consensus has emerged so far. Now the scheme literally stands at the crossroads while thousands of small and medium drug manufacturers in the country are eagerly looking forward for the launch of the scheme to upgrade their facilities to meet the GMP norms set by the government.

All this is happening at a time when hundreds of small drug manufacturers are closing down their units as they cannot comply with the stringent Schedule M norms introduced by the government in the year 2005 as it involves a huge amount to upgrade their facilities. The governments schemes like PTUF and CLCSS are meant to subsidise these expenses to the struggling SSI units in the country.