The much delayed Rs 441-crore proposal to revive the ailing PSU pharma unit Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (IDPL) will soon be presented before the Union Cabinet for its final nod. Union minister for chemicals and fertilisers MK Azhagiri is reviewing the file regarding the proposal and it will be tabled before the Cabinet any time now, it is learnt.

Sources said that the minister has taken up the proposal with the Finance Ministry to verify the financial viability of the proposal. Once the minister gets the green signal from the finance department for the proposal, it will be tabled before the Cabinet.

It is also learnt that Azhagiri is keen to get the green signal of the Cabinet for his proposal as he does not intend to waste further time by forming another group of ministers (GoM) on the issue. That the IDPL revival plan has been accorded a priority status by the government was evident from the fact that the issue has been included in the 100-day programme of the central government.

IDPL is one of the four public sector pharma units in the country which was declared as 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 GoM for consideration. The GoM under AK Antony was constituted on June 1, 2007 and the first meeting was held on October 11, 2007. Other members of the panel were P Chidambaram, Ramvilas Paswan, Anbumani Ramadoss, Oscar Fernandes and Santosh Mohan Dev.

But, after the announcement of general elections in March this year, Antony referred the matter to the next government mainly due to the resignation of two of the members, health minister Anbumani Ramadoss and labour minister Oscar Fernandes as Antony does not want the curtailed GoM to take any vital decision.

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.