SHRI SRIBALLAV PANIGRAHI : Sir, at the outset, I profusely thank your honour for having admitted the Calling Attention Motion and thus providing us an opportunity to raise this very important issue involving human sufferings, etc.

This has two parts. Firstly, the Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited is a living pioneer public sector undertaking dealing with manufacture of life saving drugs and secondly, there are the Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation and the Fertilizer Corporation of India which are the public sector undertakings in the fertiliser industry. Fertiliser is the basic input for our agriculture and thus this is also very important. But these two sectors which come under one Minister, that is, the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers have gone sick. These organisations have gone sick and I think that the statement given by the hon. Minister is a disappointing one in the sense that we wanted to know the situation prevailing in these two sectors but he has said nothing about it. The plants have been closed down. They are not working and even the employees are not being paid their minimum salaries for months.

I would first talk about IDPL. All its units have been closed since October,1996. After the first phase of implementation of the revival programme, this organisation despite sickness, was doing very well. Its units at Guregaon and Rishikesh were working over time in the places where there was plague or other epidemics. At that time, in some places there was black marketing, sky rocketing of the prices of drugs like Penicillin, Tetracycline, etc. These drugs were sold at the rate of Rs.30-35 per capsule. Had this organisation not functioning there, you could not imagine what would have been the situation there.

I would now come to the Report of the Standing Committee on this subject. I would be very brief. I would also like to quote from the latest Annual Report of the Ministry. It has been mentioned:

"The setting up of the Penicillin factory at Pimpri, Pune, in early fifties and the construction of the Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited plants at Rishikesh and Hyderabad in the sixties have been the milestones in the history of pharmaceuticals in the country. These have been the building blocks on which the structure of pharmaceutical industry in India has been built."

This has been mentioned by the Ministry in their latest Report of 1996-97, which was placed before this House. In this background, I would say that there has been a lukewarm attitude, indifferent attitude of the Ministry towards its revival. I am not going into the circumstances.

MR. SPEAKER: Panigrahi ji, you cannot make a speech. You can only ask clarifications.

SHRI SRIBALLAV PANIGRAHI : Yes, Sir, I am seeking clarifications with regard to IDPL.

One after the other, there are seven Reports of the Standing Committee and the latest report on IDPL has mentioned this. The reports are the outcome of the collective wisdom of the Standing Committee, which is regarded as a mini-Parliament where Members of all the political Parties, from both the Houses, are there. What has been the observation or the recommendation of that Standing Committee? I would conclude about IDPL by quoting from the report. I am quoting from page 28 of the Tenth Report of the Standing Committee on Petroleum and Chemicals. Because of time constraint I am not quoting other things. It says;

"In Committee's view the early revival of IDPL is a must for successful implementation of Health for All by 2000 AD Programme."

They have further talked about what should be done.

MR. SPEAKER: Panigrahi ji, you are going out of rules. You have to confine yourself to the statement made. You cannot go on referring to the Annual Reports.

SHRI SRIBALLAV PANIGRAHI : I appeal to you with folded hands, as this is a very very important subject concerning the bread of lakhs of workers. This has a national bearing. This is a question of self-pride, national pride. It is a question of self-reliance. We should tackle it together. We are celebrating the 50th year of our Independence. The public sector was the brain child of the chief architect of modern India, the first Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru. He used to call the IDPL and the fertilizers sector as the modern temples. They are being demolished now. With much anguish and pain I am saying all this. We are celebrating the Golden Jubilee of our Independence. This is a question of national pride. With folded hands I would, therefore, beg of you to give me some more time.

All unions are united. They are prepared to sacrifice the work force. The first phase was cleared. There were slippages here and there. The Standing committee of Parliament visited IDPL Headquarters.

They also scrutinised everything and pointed out the lapses. But no heed was paid to that. There was very bad management. It was the first project to be cleared by the BIFR for revival. But with halfhearted approach they went ahead and that is why it has failed. It is capable of being revived. It is capable of being revived if they give Rs.264 crore. All parties and managements together brought out the revival plan. If that is implemented and if some purchase guarantee by the Government is given to it, it can be revived. I am not going into the details of how it went sick. The IDPL was forced to supply its produce at less than its production cost to Government agencies and it has capable of being revived if they give Rs.264 crore. All parties and management amount arrived at by the expert group is given, there is no doubt about its survival and revival. It is a must. The Committee also recommended that it is a must. I am not going into details.

The Minister in his statement today stated that after the Budget is passed, he will release further amounts. The Budget is already passed. They are starving. Their salary for the month of March is paid only yesterday. We have brought all these things before Parliament. We have given notice to the hon. Speaker. This is the utility of Parliamentary democracy that we are allowed to bring something and that had some effect on the bureaucracy. Please release some money and pay their salaries. When you are giving them salaries, try to give working capital so that the plants start working. Now the prices of drugs are skyrocketing. There is no regulatory body to control all these things. With this I conclude the IDPL issue. I will now switch over to fertilisers.

MR. SPEAKER: Shri Panigrahi, you are a very senior Member. You know what is a Calling Attention. You cannot have a debate like that. You can only ask a pointed clarification on the statement.

SHRI SRIBALLAV PANIGRAHI : I obey you, Sir.

MR. SPEAKER: We have Broadcasting Bill to be taken up. We have Women's Bill to be taken up. Why do you not understand? I think you have made your point.

SHRI SRIBALLAV PANIGRAHI: One part of my submission is over. The other part is with regard to fertilisers. As you know, Sir, this is a complicated issue. Many things are combined in it. That is why I profusely express my gratitude to your honour and request you to allow me another five to seven minutes to conclude.

MR. SPEAKER: No, no, the question does not arise. It is never done. Please conclude.

SHRI SRIBALLAV PANIGRAHI : I will only put questions on fertiliser. The problem of sickness has been gone into in detail by the Cabinet, the Group of Ministers, the BIFR, the consultancy and others. The Group of Ministers, that is, the Government, gave its approval in April, 1995. Thereafter, the funds were to be arranged. Two agencies were coming forward for that. The Exim Bank of Japan was willing to invest. I would like to know from the hon. Minister as to what happened to that.

Now they say that although it was cleared, because money could not be located they are giving a second look to it. We went for ICICI as the operating agency again. A firm named Fergusson was engaged. I do not know what sort of expertise that firm has in this regard. That is a Chartered Accountancy firm. They are now coming forward with some contradictory recommendations. What happened to the proposal when two leading international financial institutions -- the Exim Bank of Japan and some other institution called something like European Continental -- were coming forward to fund this project? What happened to that proposal? The only thing they were asking was for a Government guarantee. What is the harm in it, if the Government comes forward considering the utility of these projects?

In India, per hectare consumption of fertiliser is the minimum. At 75 kilograms per hectare, it is less than the world average of 95 kilograms per hectare. Our neighbour Bangladesh is at 102 kilograms per hectare. As you know, we are having an economic growth of 7.23 per cent.

In the case of Agriculture, our growth rate is on the decline. Our agricultural growth is not even matching our population growth. This is the situation. Fertilizer being the basic input, we should have self-sufficiency in fertilizers.

In today's situation, we are going in for import of about 23 lakh tonnes of urea. If this is the situation and if all the units of HFC and FCI put together are revived, there will be an additional production of 23 lakh tonnes of urea. These projects are revivable. If Talcher unit is closed, naturally there will be no heavy water and that is something which will have a bearing on our defence preparedness. Thousands of workers' families will also lose their bread. In the Committee of Secretaries and everywhere, the Government says, `yes, they are feasible, revival programme is feasible'. ... (Interruptions) There was a Group of Secretaries. One thing is that everybody supports revival. ... (Interruptions)

MR. SPEAKER: You are compelling me to take a decision to the effect that I will never call you in the Calling Attention discussion in future.

SHRI SRIBALLAV PANIGRAHI : I am concluding, Sir.

The Group of Secretaries have said that they are not to be revived. A project of Sindri of FCI and another project of HFC will be revived. There is a lurking fear everywhere, among the workers and also among the cultivators. In view of self-reliance, I would like to have a categorical assurance. We cannot also depend so much on import of huge quantity of foodgrains, etc. That is why, I would request that the Government should take every step and particularly, if the Government gives a guarantee, the agencies are willing to come forward to invest in this sector. I do not know why there is no provision. Here, only a minimum amount is provided. But there is a propaganda going on, even in the electronic media that Rs.1100 crore is there for Talcher and for some other things ... (Interruptions)