Fighting COVID-19: Srikant Jena Urges Odisha CM To Revive ODCL

Bhubaneswar: Former Union Minister Srikant Jena has urged the Odisha government to revive Odisha Drugs and Chemicals Ltd (ODCL) in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Jena urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to invest the required amount of money needed for revival of ODCL as it will help increase supply of essential drugs in the fight against the pandemic.

He informed that he has written to the State as well as Central government for providing financial assistance to the drug-manufacturing unit.

Jena added that ODCL could even be used for manufacturing vaccines at a time when the Centre is looking to ramp up production of COVID vaccines.

In a video message, Jena pointed out that the PSU which was closed down last December was manufacturing essential drugs amounting to Rs 100 cr. A subsidiary unit of IDPL, which was shut down in 2017, ODCL was earning Rs 2 cr before its closure, he added.

Jena said when he was a minister under UPA-2, he had sanctioned Rs 5 crore for the revival of ODCL, which was established during Janata Party regime in 1977.