Chief Minister M K Stalin has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hand over the unutilised Integrated Vaccine Complex (IVC) established by HLL BioTech Limited in Chengalpet to Tamil Nadu on lease without any past liabilities and with full operational freedom.
Stalin’s letter comes after he visited the plant on Tuesday. He said that the state government has plans to manufacture vaccines in Tamil Nadu.
He said the facility has been non-operational and the state government would continue to urge the centre to allocate funds to get the unit working for producing vaccines.
The CM also said that the spread of the coronavirus is declining in Chennai and other cities and the situation would improve.
In the letter to PM Modi, Stalin mentioned that the Government of India had spent around Rs 700 crore in the manufacturing facility which is almost complete and has been lying unutilised for want of additional funds. He also said the recent attempt to find a partner to run the IVC has also not borne fruit as there were no bidders.
“I am very keen that this modern facility must be made functional immediately, in the interest of our state as well as our nation. This would substantially enhance the nation’s vaccine production capacity and cater to the vaccine requirements of the country as a whole and Tamil Nadu in particular,” he said.
Stalin said the state government will find a suitable partner immediately and will make efforts to commence the production at the earliest. He also said a suitable financial arrangement for the Central Government to recover part of its investment can be subsequently worked out.
Earlier on Wednesday, Stalin hit out at the Centre over allocation of vaccines to states. He said not just Tamil Nadu but several other states faced the same constraints and had to go for global bids to procure vaccines. Stalin added that ever since DMK took over, about 78,000 vaccine doses were being administered on an average as against the 61,000 doses ever since the vaccination drive commenced.
Commenting on the vaccine wastage, he said the wastage has been brought down to one per cent during the past two weeks while it was about six per cent before.
On Thursday, the Chief Minister held a meeting with the collectors of Coimbatore, Salem, Tiruppur, Madurai, Trichy and Erode to review the steps they have taken to control the spread. The meeting took place amid the speculation of a lockdown extension which began on May 24.
When asked if the weeklong strict lockdown could be extended, Stalin had said though there was satisfaction to an extent, there is no complete satisfaction yet indicating that the lockdown could be extended beyond May 31.