The pharmaceutical companies that have set up their manufacturing units in Himachal Pradesh are finding it extremely difficult to comply with the state government directive to reserve 70 per cent of jobs to the local people.

The issue has become very serious with the government clarification that the 70 per cent quota system should prevail across all categories of jobs and not the unskilled workforce alone. With no pharmacy college in the state offering a degree or PG courses, the companies are finding it impossible to trace sufficient technical staff to fill up jobs as per the quota.

On the flip side, the salaries of the pharma professionals who are from the state have shot up several times as compared to the compensation prevalent in the conventional drug manufacturing hubs of the country. The shortage of staff has also resulted in companies engaging in employee poaching causing more damage to the small companies and offering temporary relief to the bigger ones. Adding to their woes is the frequent inspections from the state labour welfare department, verifying the job quota claims put up by the company.

The industry's has to interact with the state labour welfare department very often as No Objection Certificate (NoC) from the department is necessary for every manufacturing unit before applying for any license renewal. Obviously, the NoC depends upon the percentage of Himachal people that are working in the company. Company officials informed that the department has even asked for photo identity cards displaying the complete residence address and names of family members to help them identify the Himachal people who are in the rolls.

The representative bodies, B B N Industries Association (BBNIA) and the newly formed Himachal Drug Manufacturers Association (HDMA) have approached the state government to find an early solution to the problem. The associations wanted the government to take note of the peculiar nature of pharmaceutical industry and its specific requirement for highly technical staff, and allow them to comply with the quota requirement in a phased manner. "We have asked the government to limit the job quota requirement to 30 per cent in the first year and increase it to 40 per cent and 70 per cent in the subsequent years. This is the only practical way to solve this problem. While the issue is not that serious with the non-technical staff, with others, it is very critical," Arun Rawat, general secretary, BBNIA informed Pharmabiz. The HDMA is also concerned about the difficulties in fulfilling the quota requirement and the resultant high attrition rates among the technical staff of their member pharmaceutical companies. They lamented that the government is yet to give a patient view to their woes.

Even though the government is yet to respond to the industry plea to dilute its quota norms; it has already announced plans for setting up pharmaceutical institutes in the state. To begin with, a special trade in ITI that pertains to pharmaceutical manufacturing would be introduced.

The quota issue has put the companies who have migrated to the newly developed pharmaceutical manufacturing zones in Himachal Pradesh after closing down their units in a bigger trouble. While Factory Act is against the dismissal of the labourers in the existing unit while relocating it, several pharmaceutical units, especially from parts of Gujarat, are finding it impossible to accommodate their previous staff in the newly set up unit.

The companies feel that in the absence of a quick remedial measure, the quota system is going to haunt them for a long time now.