‘PMC, PCMC joint global tender plan to purchase vaccines not dropped’

Bhosari MLA Mahesh Landge talks about discussions with the PMC on floating global tenders for direct procurement of vaccines. Landge, also the BJP's Pimpri-Chinchwad president, says Hindustan Antiobiotics Ltd has been asked to submit a detailed proposal on how they plan to manufacture the vaccine.

Bhosari MLA Mahesh Landge (File)

Has the PCMC and PMC plan to float joint tenders for purchasing vaccines been dropped?

No, we have not dropped the plan. Our discussions are underway with the PMC. Since we have received a good response to the global tenders floated by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, we are also encouraged to float a joint tender. We have not finalised anything yet. We will take a call during our next meeting.

At what stage does the permission to Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd for manufacturing vaccines stand?

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Just today (Thursday), we held a videoconference meeting where Union minister of state for fertiliser and chemicals, managing director of Hindustan Antibiotics (HA) and BJP MP Manoj Kotak, president of HA Mazdoor Sangh, were present. The minister has asked HA to submit a detailed plan on how they will manufacture the vaccine and their requirements. During the discussion, we also urged the minister to grant permission to HA to manufacture for children. We have asked HA to submit a joint plan.

How much will it cost the PCMC for a deal with the HA?

HA has been ailing for quite a while. It is struggling to pay salaries to employees. The company has said it needs to put up a new manufacturing setup for the vaccine and will, therefore, need at least Rs 20 crore.

When HA makes the vaccine, it will not only be for Pimpri-Chinchwad. Your comment?

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Yes, that’s true. That’s why we have told them to sign an agreement to the effect that they will give priority to Pimpri-Chinchwad. Once the vaccination is done at Pimpri-Chinchwad, they can supply it to other cities. HA has plans to produce five lakh vaccines. But this will take at least four months, and that is why we are going for the joint global tender.

How much time do you think it will take to get permission from the Centre for HA to manufacture the vaccine?

From what the Union minister said, I don’t think it will take time for the Centre’s permission. If there is any delay, we will ask former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to pursue the matter with the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In fact, he has promised that he will pursue the matter with the Centre.

Why did you speak in favour of home isolation after the state government dropped the plan in 18 districts?

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If 80 per cent patients are asymptomatic, what is the point of admitting them to hospitals? People fear hospitals. They recuperate at better at home, especially if they have mild symptoms or are asympotamatic.

Why is the PCMC against opening vaccination centres at housing societies?

I have spoken to the municipal commissioner about granting permission to housing societies for vaccination centres. But the commissioner said unless the state government gives permission, the PCMC cannot decide on its own.

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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