Chennai: Madurai will soon get the prestigious National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER)— a national level institute in pharmaceutical sciences; and the Centre has also decided to increase the strength of students at CIPET, Chennai, from 1,200 to 5,000, Union chemicals and fertilisers minister Ananth Kumar has announced.
Also, the minister who participated in the inaugural of an event “New India - resolve to achieve” held under the aegis of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs to mark 75 years of the Quit India movement, at Anna University here on Sunday evening, informed that TN would get 500 Jan Aushadhi Kendras shortly to provide generic drugs at affordable prices.
The NIPER, which the Centre has decided to establish in Madurai, is equivalent to IITs and IIMs, the Minister said. This autonomous body under the aegis of Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, provides leadership in pharmaceutical sciences and related areas within the country and also to the countries in South East Asia, South Asia and Africa.
Turning to the Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology (CIPET) in Chennai, Ananth Kumar said, “We will train 5,000 students as there is a huge demand for plastic engineers across the world. About 99 per cent of the students are placed,” the Minister informed.
For the last three years, the Madras Fertilisers Limited (MFL) has been functioning uninterruptedly and making operating profits after the Modi government laid lines and ensured a regular supply of naphtha. “I assure that the Modi government will make MFL a leader in the fertiliser industry,” he said. He recalled that under the direction of PM Narendra Modi, the Centre reduced the rates of stents to Rs 30,000 from Rs 1.5 lakhs on February 14 and on August 15 the PM announced a cut in the cost of knee implants, pegging the MRP of Rs 54,000.
