Times of India
23 June 2010
Pune, India

An ayurveda industry cluster and common facility centre will be built at Kolawadi near Pune at a cost of Rs 16 crore, with the work expected to commence in 2011.

The city–based Maharashtra Ayurveda Centre Private Limited (MACPL) is building the cluster, which will have world–class raw material standardisation and processing centres, quality control laboratories, research centres, manufacturing centres for entrepreneurship and skill development in the field of ayurveda.

While the total cost of the project is Rs 16 crore, the department of AYUSH – which falls under the ministry of health and family welfare – has granted a subsidy of Rs 10 crore to the project. The remaining amount will be raised by the MACPL.

Speaking to TOI, Sunita Belgamwar, chairman, MACPL, said, "The cluster will come up at Kolawadi near Pune on the Pune–Bangalore highway. The common facility centre will be developed on 54,000 sq ft. It will benefit ayurveda drug manufacturers, traders, medicinal plant farmers, distributors, ayurveda practitioners, researchers and students."

She said the MACPL consists of around 35 organisations that will be among the primary investors in this project. "We are expecting the project to commence by 2011. The cluster will bring additional employment opportunities in the ayurveda sector in the state."

Belgamwar said the Union government has sanctioned two ayurveda clusters for the state and the other one will come up in the Konkan area. She said the Centre will also provide subsidy for cultivation of medicinal plants, which farmers will supply as raw material. In fact, the Centre recently gave subsidy to farmers from Vidarbha for cultivating medicinal plants.