The government may seek the Election Commission's permission to announce the Rs 441-crore financial package to revive the ailing Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (IDPL) as the concerned ministries had finalized the package before the Commission announced the poll dates. As per the election code of conduct, the government cannot announce such packages once the election commission announces the election dates.

Sources in the Union chemicals ministry said that after finalizing the package by different government departments involved in the process, the issue was left to the cabinet secretary to call the GoM meeting to officially announce the package. But, due to the preoccupation of the ministers, the GoM could not be held so far. Since the package was finalized much before the election announcement, the government is hoping to get the Election Commission nod to announce the package to revive the ailing pharma PSU which is a pet scheme of chemicals minister Ramvilas Paswan.

But again, the bigger question is the availability of the five ministers of the GoM which was constituted on June 1, 2007 under defence minister A K Antony to take a final call on the matter. As per the norms, at least four ministers should be present in the GoM meeting to make it valid. Now that all the ministers are involved in election related works in their own constituencies, officials express doubt over the availability of these ministers in Delhi to convene the GoM meeting.

IDPL is one of the four public sector pharma units in the country which was declared sick way back in 1992 by the Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR). 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.

The revival package was placed before the cabinet which considered the proposal at its meeting on May 17, 2007. As there was no consensus on the issue, it was referred to a group of ministers (GoM) for consideration. The GoM under A K Antony was constituted on June 1, 2007 and the first meeting was held on October 11, 2007.

An early clearance of the revival scheme is very important as it has the social obligation to manufacture and produce life-saving drugs at a reasonable price whereas the private companies have no such obligation to the general public. IDPL is also expected to play a key role in supplying drugs to the generic drug stores (Jan Aushadhis) being launched in each district of the country to ensure drugs at affordable prices to the poor sections of the society.

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 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.