9 years since inception, no vaccine production in IVC, says RTI reply

MADURAI:  An RTI reply received by a man in April last year revealed that the Central government’s state-of-the-art Integrated Vaccine Complex (IVC) at Chengalpattu has not only been lying idle but has not manufactured a single vaccine in the past nine years. HLL Biotech Limited (HBL), in its reply to the RTI request sent by one Anand Raj of Madurai on March 28, 2020, had admitted that manufacturing activities have not been started so far in the complex.

In the reply, HBL said that it is a subsidiary of HLL Lifecare Limited, a Government of India enterprise under the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry and that IVC was established in 2012 at an ‘estimated’ cost of Rs 594 crore and has a sanctioned staff strength of 408, of which nearly 251 posts are vacant. But to the question posed by Raj with regard to list of vaccines manufactured in HBL since its establishment, the company replied that it is yet to start manufacturing activities.

From the income and expenditure details furnished by HBL in this RTI reply, Raj said, “Between the years 2013 and 2019, HBL has generated a revenue of Rs 6.77 crore and incurred a loss of Rs 96.25 crore.” Raj told TNIE that he had obtained the report in April last year while collecting data for filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) but was unable to file it due to the lockdown. He demanded the government to utilise IVC to manufacture vaccines.

Further alleging that the complex was kept idle in the interest of private companies, he appealed the Madras High Court and SHRC to take suo motu cognisance of the issue. A few days ago, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had written a letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to revive IVC in view of the increasing Covid-19 cases and the demand for vaccines.

Several political party leaders including Tiruppur CPI MP K Subbarayan have also been making similar demands recently. According to HBL’s official website, IVC is ‘a project of national importance’ and is supposed to manufacture and supply cost-effective UIP (Universal Immunization Programme) vaccines to the country and export to agencies including UNICEF.