New Delhi, Jul 13 (IANS): Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal on Monday met Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers D. V. Sadananda Gowda here and sought the establishment of a national pharmaceutical park in Bathinda.

Badal informed Gowda that Bathinda is the best positioned destination for the project as 1,350 acres is readily available for the venture.

The land has been vacated by the erstwhile Bathinda Thermal Plant. Further, a functional railway siding and infrastructure is also available for the supply of raw materials and carriage for the pharma industry.

"The proposed park in Bathinda could cater to the entire area north of Delhi, reaching out to Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, neighbouring Rajasthan, and even Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh," Badal said.

He added the pharma ecosystem in Punjab is scalable as it is home to some of the biggest USFDA approved pharmaceutical companies like Sun Pharma, Centrient, and IOL Chemicals, and the state's R&D ecosystem is bolstered by ace institutes like NIPER, IISER, Institute of Microbial Research, Institute of Nano Technology, and AIIMS.

The Union government has already announced its intention to establish three pharmaceutical parks in the country.

Badal also met Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh L. Mandaviya and discussed the various Punjab related issues, besides modalities and feasibility for the upcoming projects.