Centre to provide Rs 40 cr for setting up CIPET at Baddi, HP

The Centre will provide Rs 40 crore for setting up Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology (CIPET) at Baddi in Solan district, Himachal Pradesh.
The central institute will help students upgrade their skill and technical competency to meet the growing demand of the plastic industry.
The Centre would provide Rs 40.10 crore for the institute while the Himachal government has offered adequate land free of cost and also made a provision of Rs 2-crore in the current year's state budget, Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers Ananth Kumar said at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the new complex at Baddi in Solan district today.

Addressing a gathering, Ananth Kumar announced a Bulk Drug Pharma Park and Satellite Extension Centre of National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) for Pharma testing lab at Baddi.
He said though bulk drugs were coming from China, now Himachal would also be a centre of production of base material for such bulk drugs.
Bulk drug parks in Ahmedabad and Andhra Pradesh have already been proposed and this will be the third one at Baddi in Himachal, he said.

At present, there are 28 CIPETs in different parts of the country and 11 more have been approved with the increase in demand, he said.

At present, India requires 9 lakh plastic engineers and skilled labourers.
The institute which started classes from 2015-16 is presently functioning temporarily in the premises of Baddi Technical Training Institute (BTTI) and the new state-of-the-art complex would be build within a year.
CIPET would be completed within a year and he would inaugurate it next year, Kumar said.
Besides Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and Minister of State for Petroleum and Fertilisers Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, State Transport Minister G S Bali and Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri were also present.
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said the state government had released first instalment of Rs 50 lakh to the institute in January this year for creating infrastructure.

"Skill Development is key to sustainable development and is essential to address the opportunities and challenges to meet new demands of changing economy," said the Chief Minister.
He further said the government has initiated vocational education in as many as 500 schools and will start bachelors of vocational education courses in 10 colleges and short-term courses to provide new and additional skills to make the youth employable.
State Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri said a sum of Rs 100 crore has been sanctioned for the industrial belt of Baddi, Barotiwala and Nalagarh.