Did Vijayabaskar says “Union Govt. allotted Rs 600 crore for the Chengalpattu Center but the State has not started the work”?
Claim
The state government has not started the work even if the union government is allotted Rs 600 crore for the Chengalpattu Center. ~ Vijayabaskar
Rating
Description
A Facebook page claims that Former Health Minister Dr Vijayabaskar has said that the state government has not yet started any work even if the Union Government invested Rs 600 crore in the vaccine manufacturing centre in Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu.
Fact Check:
Searching for the photo and tweet of former health minister Vijayabaskar featured in the post, the tweet was posted on his Twitter page on June 2.
In a tweet tagged by Indian Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, he said, “Hon’ble Dr Harshvardhan Sir, the IVC by HLL at Chengalpet we visited on 8th Jan has not commenced operations despite 600 Cr investment by the Union Govt. It’s the collective wish of TN to begin the functioning of IVC asap to bridge the demand-supply gap of the Covid vaccine. ”
In his tweet, he did not say that the Tamil Nadu government has not started work. Instead, he has asked HarshaVardhan to immediately start work at the Chengalpattu vaccine manufacturing company. The vaccine manufacturing centre at Chengalpattu was set up at a cost of Rs 600 crore. That is what he is referring to.
In fact, the Government of Tamil Nadu continues to insist that work be carried out at the Chengalpattu Vaccine Production Center to this Union Government. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had written a detailed letter to Prime Minister Modi asking him to lease the Chengalpattu vaccine manufacturing facility to the state government. But the Union government, led by Prime Minister Modi, has remained silent.
In 2012, when the United Progressive Alliance was in power, stated work began on setting up an integrated vaccine production centre run by HLL Biotech in Chengalpattu with a 100 per cent subsidy. All the work, including the construction and installation of machinery for the Rs 600 crore campus, was completed in 2017. But so far not a single vaccine has been developed.
In public interest litigation in the Chennai High Court seeking an order for the production of corona vaccine at the Chengalpattu Vaccine Manufacturing Company, the court concluded on June 3 that it hoped that the Union Government would consider the possibility of reactivating the vaccine manufacturer and until that court has no order could be issued in this regard… Published in Hindu Tamil News.
Explanation
In our search, the post spread as “Vijayabaskar says Union Gov. allotted Rs 600 crore for the Chengalpattu Center and the state has not started the work” is a rumoured statement.
He did not say so. On the contrary, he has demanded that the vaccine centre, which was set up at a cost of Rs 600 crore by the Union Government, be brought into operation immediately.
It is learned that there is a continuous request on behalf of the Government of Tamil Nadu to bring the Chengalpattu Vaccine Production Center into operation immediately and lease it out.
