GUWAHATI, May 30 � Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Ananth Kumar and Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today jointly laid the foundation stone for the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER).
Speaking at a function organised on the occasion in the GMCH auditorium, the Union Minister said the institute, to come up in Guwahati, would be the best among all the seven NIPERs in the country.
Asserting that the Guwahati-based NIPER would be a world-class institute, Kumar informed that construction work on the permanent campus of NIPER would commence today itself. Although the land was allotted for the institute by the State government in 2009 itself, work could not be started.
The NIPER is being set up on a plot of land measuring 89 acres at Silapahar, on the outskirts of Guwahati, at a cost of Rs 580 crore.
Kumar also asserted that generic medicine centres would be set up at hospitals across 27 districts of the State and invited the State government to sign an MoU in this regard with the Central ministry concerned. �
Referring to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi�s demand for a national institute of design and a petroleum research and study institute in the State, the Union Minister said he would take up the matter with the ministries concerned after returning to New Delhi.
Kumar further opined that there was a need for a holistic approach for curing lifestyle diseases of the present times. Assam, along with the North-east, which is endowed with rich flora and fauna, could become a hub for ayurveda, he said.
Earlier, Chief Minister Gogoi vouched for the promotion of local medicines and also urged the Union government to help in tapping the potential of the natural resources in Assam.
He urged the Centre to upgrade the College for Physical Education into a university and also demanded a cooperative university.
Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Member of Parliament (Guwahati) Bijoya Chakravarty among others, were also present on the occasion.