The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers has expressed serious concern over the delay in developing the infrastructure for the new NIPERs and asked the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) to take steps to speed up the process.

The Committee, in a recent report, also took strong view about the response by the DoP on the earlier recommendations made by the panel in this regard. It had earlier recommended that the DoP should start construction of campuses at Guwahati and Ahmedabad where land was already available and make all necessary efforts towards acquisition of land at four places i.e. Hyderabad, Hajipur, Kolkata and Rae Bareli.

In its replay to the panel, the DoP noted that the issue of construction of NIPER campuses at Guwahati and Gandhinagar is under the consideration of Steering Committee for new NIPERs. Further, the Department has also stated that the Chief Ministers of Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have been requested to allot land for construction of NIPER Campuses. Also, the West Bengal Government has allotted 35 acres of land and it is being developed by the State Government Agency viz. Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). However, issues relating to payment of development charges and extent of availability of land exclusively for NIPER are being sorted out with the Government of West Bengal, according to the DoP.

“In view of the Action Taken Reply, the Committee feels that no substantial information has been provided by the Department regarding progress in construction of campuses at Guwahati and Gandhinagar except stating that the issue is under consideration of Steering Committee for new NIPERs. The Committee strongly disapproves such replies and are inclined to presume that under the guise of Steering Committee for new NIPERs, the reasons for delay in construction of campuses at these two places have not been reported to the Committee,” the latest report by the Parliamentary panel said.

“The Committee deplores such practice and desire to be apprised about progress in construction of campuses for new NIPERs at these two places. Further, the Committee takes note of efforts made by the Department regarding acquisition of land in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal and hope that the land acquisition and related issues will be vigorously pursued further with the respective State Governments,” the report said.