Bengal needs to grow in biotech space: Buddhadeb

KOLKATA - Conceding that West Bengal lagged in drawing investments from the pharmaceutical sector, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Monday stressed the need for the growth of the biotech industry in the state.

Speaking after inaugurating the Kolkata Biotech Park at the satellite township of Salt Lake, the chief minister said: “Big medicine companies are there in the country. But in medicine, Kolkata is nowhere. That’s why we have to work in the area of biotechnology. We invite private companies to come up.

“We are trying our best to grow our economy…without biotechnology we cannot develop. So far West Bengal is concerned, we have to work on plants and medicine,” he said.

On the Biotech Park, Bhattacharjee said: “It is our first centre of biotechnology. We bought a new building here at Rs.18 crore. Already, nine companies have come forward. We will provide them laboratory facilities in the area.”

Immense wealth was being created in the sectors of information technology (IT) and biotechnology, he said adding that the Biotech Park was a very good beginning.

IT Minister Debesh Das said: “Two companies have already started their work in the park. The state-of-the-art laboratory in the park has been set up at a cost of Rs.6 crore.

“Directly, about 400 people will get jobs in the Biotech Park and indirectly, about 4,000 people will be employed,” he added.

The park boasts of a 38,000 sq ft state-of-the-art bioincubator facility, which has been set up in a ten-storey building housing an ultramodern genome sequencer, DNA sequencer and other instruments.

A bio-incubator is a building designed for housing research and development driven companies active in biotechnology.

The state government has collaborated with private company GCC Biotech to run the genome sequencer.