Bhubaneswar, April 8: The state government today demanded setting up of a National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (Niper) in the state.

The institute has already been set up in Patna, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Rae Bareli, Guwahati and Calcutta. "If an institute is established in Odisha, it will promote quality and excellence in pharmaceutical education and research," said chief minister Naveen Patnaik in a letter to Union minister of chemical and fertilisers Ananth Kumar.

The state has 27 private diploma and degree pharmacy colleges, two government colleges at SCB Medical College in Cuttack and Government Polytechnic in Bhubaneswar. Besides, postgraduate courses in polytechnic are available in Utkal University.

"To provide further boost to the availability of highly skilled human resource required for the pharma sector, the state government would like to have such an institute in Odisha," said Naveen offering to immediately make available requisite built up space to run its temporary campus and laterland for construction of its permanent campus.

The state has set up a biotechnology park over 64 acres in Bhubaneswar and also a drug testing laboratory.

"We are also in the process of setting up a pharma park and a medical device park," said Naveen.

The state is also going to have a common facility centre in Bhubaneswar over 8,000sqft. The proposed centre will be set up in the public private partnership mode, said secretary of the Utkal Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association Rajesh Kumar Modi.

Modi said the Centre had sanctioned Rs 3.2 crore, while the state government had allocated space in Mancheswar industrial estate. The association has completed construction of building. The Centre, state government and the association will invest on 60:20:20 ratio.

Bhubaneswar-Cuttack has been declared as a pharma cluster. The twin cities have 25 drugs manufacturing industries, 15 gauge and bandage-making units and five phenyl-making units.