Almost an year after holding its first sitting, the Group of Ministers (GoM) is yet to fix a date for the second meeting, expected to be the final, to ratify the Rs 441-crore package to revive the ailing Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (IDPL).

Though the date was fixed for the final sitting of the five-member GoM headed by defence minister A K Antony sometime back, it was postponed and the fresh date is yet to be fixed. "The chairman of GoM has been requested for a date for the meeting. The recommendations of the GoM may be finalized at the next meeting. We are pursuing the matter for an earliest decision on the package," sources in the Chemicals and Fertilizers Ministry said.

The revival scheme was placed before the cabinet which considered the proposal at its meeting on May 17, 2007 and referred it to the GoM for consideration at the first instance. GoM has been constituted on June 1, 2007 and its first meeting was held on October 11, 2007. Though indications are that it will be cleared in the next meeting and would be placed before the cabinet, there are no signs of the meeting in the near future.

"IDPL properties are intact. We are very seriously guarding its properties. We are also pursuing the proposal of rehabilitation. We are confident that we would be able to go through IDPL rehabilitation. It is not being closed," the sources added.

The parliamentary committee attached to Chemicals Ministry also had in its recent report called for an early clearance of the revival scheme. "The committee feel that revival of IDPL is very important issue as it has social obligation to manufacture and produce life saving drugs at a reasonable price whereas the private companies have no social obligation to manufacture and produce life saving drugs at a reasonable price to the general public. The committee, therefore, recommend that IDPL should not only be revived but efforts should also be made to make a model drug company in the public sector," the report said.

The IDPL, incorporated in 1961, has three manufacturing plants, one each at Rishikesh (Uttaranchal), Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh) and Gurgaon (Haryana). IDPL has two wholly-owned subsidiaries, namely, IDPL (Tamil Nadu) Limited, Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Bihar Drugs & Organic Chemicals Limited at Muzaffarpur (Bihar). In addition, IDPL has two joint sector undertakings, promoted in collaboration with the respective State Governments. These are Rajasthan Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (RDPL), Jaipur, and Orissa Drugs & Chemicals Limited (ODCL) Bhubaneshwar.

IDPL was formally declared sick by the Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) in August 1992 and the revival package was formulated and approved by BIFR in February 1994. The Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) recommended the present scheme for approval of the Government.