After 7 yrs, Centre ‘defers’ plan to set up Maharashtra’s first Niper in city

Nagpur: Amid the controversy over ‘losing’ major investments by Tata-Airbus and French aviation major Safran’s MRO, Nagpur also appears to have lost, at least for now, an institute of national and international repute – the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (Niper).
Replying to a query from Vidarbha Economic Development (VED) Council, Union minister of chemicals and fertilizers Mansukh Mandaviya said he had already clarified in a written reply in the Lok Sabha that the Union finance ministry’s ‘Expenditure Finance Committee’ had not “supported proposals for creation of new Nipers at present stage”. This indicates Maharashtra’s first Niper would remain on paper for the foreseeable future.
Niper at Nagpur had first been announced over seven years ago by former Union minister late Arun Jaitley in his budget speech on February 28, 2015. TOI had reported the central government’s plans to allocate Niper to the city on the next day, and had been following the issue since then, even questioning local leaders about inordinate delay in setting it up in all these years.
Vidarbha Economic Development (VED) Council had first raised the demand for this institute in 2011, and it also recently sent queries to the minister, which led to his reply. “The EFCs meeting on September 24, 2021, has approved Rs1,500 crore for the five-year period from 2021-22 to 2025-26 for setting up or upgradation of existing seven Nipers, including construction of their regular campuses,” it mentioned, adding that the “EFC had not supported proposal for creation of new Nipers at the present stage”.
It was speculated that Niper would give a big fillip to the pharma industry in the region with renowned names like Lupin already setting up plant in Mihan. The Maharashtra government led by then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis also allocated 40 acres at Kaldongri on March 28, 2017. Since then, there was no progress and none of the local leaders made any attempt to pursue the matter.
When Niper was proposed initially, Nagpur was the first choice. However, lack of political will resulted in the prestigious institute being taken to Mohali in Punjab. Afterwards Nipers were established at Ahmedabad, Hajipur (Bihar), Hyderabad, Kolkata, Raebareli and Guwahati in 2007-08, but none was allocated to Maharashtra till 2015, despite having a large number of pharmaceutical companies operating here.
VED officials said the proposals for setting up other new Nipers at New Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Bengaluru (Karnataka), Madurai (Tamil Nadu) and Jhalawar (Rajasthan) were also on paper till date. “The government wanted to focus on the existing Nipers at seven places and complete their infrastructure first,” former VED president Shivkumar Rao told TOI.
In December 2021, the Parliament passed NIPER (Amendment) Bill, 2021, clarifying that existing institutions and similar ones to be set up subsequently would be institutes of national importance.
The Union minister’s reply mentioned that the construction of Niper Guwahati campus was almost complete, while it was in full swing at Ahmedabad. “Niper at Mohali has a full-fledged campus with state of the art laboratories and regular faculty. Regarding six others set up in 2007-08, the Union ministry has provided more than Rs1,200 crore for their infrastructure and other activities. These were also sanctioned regular faculty and other administrative posts, most of which have been filled up. They were provided funds for setting up well-equipped laboratories,” Mandaviya said.

* Announced for Nagpur on Feb 28, 2015, in Union budget
* Land identified near Mohagaon on Amravati Road
* Union govt assures to invest Rs600 crore
* Visiting central team rejects Amravati Road land, finalises Kaldongri on Wardha Road
* State govt hands over 40 acre on March 28, 2017
* No progress for over 3 years from Centre
* VED approaches Gadkari to expedite project
* Gadkari writes to Mandaviya on Aug 16, 2021, to expedite project
* Mandaviya says proposal pending with fin ministry
* Mandaviya informs Lok Sabha in 2022 that fin panel doesn’t support proposal at this stage
* Ministry sends his reply to VED, which was pursuing it since 2011