The proposed Ayurveda cluster in Nashik will remain a pipedream as the developers have abandoned their long cherished dream of developing a cluster in Nashik due to the lackadaisical attitude of the Department of Ayush towards their request for an extension of time for submitting the project report. As their repeated requests for extension fell on deaf ears of the authorities, the developers have sold out the land purchased for the project, a source said.

Incidentally, Nashik was one of the first five proposals that the Ayush department had received for its ambitious Rs 100-crore pilot 'Cluster Scheme' project under which the government was to set up 25 clusters in different parts of the country to give boost to the sagging Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani (ASU) sector in the country.

The cluster developers in Nashik had requested the department to extend the last date by some months as they could not cobble up the required 15 GMP-certified ayurveda units to submit the project report before the due date of August 31, 2008. But, in spite of repeated representations, the department has not responded to the developers so far. The cluster would have brought common manufacturing, testing and marketing facilities for the benefit of over 70 Ayurveda units in the Nashik region to meet the high quality standards set by the government.

A spokesman for the Nashik cluster project said that the government would have lost nothing if it extended the time as there were very few proposals for the cluster project against the government target of 25 clusters. Apart from the 15 GMP-certified units, the developers attributed the delay in making the project report to the authorities because the department had asked for more details of the developers such as three years balance sheet, three years IT returns, etc on August 9 just some days before the last date.

Since then several letters were written to the department requesting them to extend the last date. But, all our requests fell on deaf ears of the authorities as they simply did not respond at all. Now that there is no hope of any extension, the developers have sold out the land purchased for the project, the spokesman said.

As per the proposal, the cluster in Nashik was to be established at an estimated cost of Rs 7.3 crore and of which the department of Ayush will provide Rs 4.21 crore. The promoters, the manufacturers, have to collect Rs 1.20 crore and the rest will be taken as term loan from a bank. After giving the in-principle approval, the Ayush department has asked the manufacturers to come up with detailed proposals.

The clusters will be useful to the Ayurveda manufacturers, especially the small and medium manufacturers who cannot afford to establish costly advanced facilities on their own, as there will be all types of common facilities in the clusters. With the government shifting its focus on quality, the clusters will go a long way in upgrading the quality of Ayurveda products in the country.

The common manufacturing facilities which will be established in the cluster included common tablet coating machines, extraction machines and packaging machines like blister packing and strip packing. The common testing facilities included common identification testing and qualitative testing. There will be advanced technological facilities for analysing the products such as gas chromatographers, HPTLC, and atomic absorption machines for heavy metal testing.