Biotech hub in the Sahyadris

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday announced that a bio-tech hub would be developed in the Mumbai-Pune corridor.

"A bio-tech hub in Mumbai-Pune corridor would soon be developed taking into consideration the rich flora and fauna in the Sahyadri ranges in the western Maharashtra," chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh told at Bio-2005 -- the world's largest bio-tech conference -- held in Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in the US.

Deshmukh, who is on a visit to the US to woo investors, said the state was one of the first in the country to realise the importance of biotechnology and set up a bio-technology commission in 2001.

He said the state government was setting up a world class Centre of Excellence which would cover all aspects of cutting edge research and development in emerging areas of life sciences and technology.

Deshumkh also said the state was in the process of setting up an ethics committee to draft guidelines for research and experimentation.

Compared with other states, Maharashtra has a clear edge over all infrastructural facilities -- ports, road connectivity, power situation or telecom, the chief minister claimed.

The knowledge city of Pune, once connected to Mumbai, will be developed into a world class knowledge hub, he said.

"Taking advantage of this, we aim to develop the Mumbai-Pune corridor as one of the prominent biotech hubs in the region," he added. Also present in the conference was Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal.

The chief minister said the state government has a seed fund for bio-technology, the corpus of which is being increased.

"We have developed a biotech park in collaboration with The Chatterjee Group in Pune. This park offers developed land and ready-to-move-in laboratory space to life sciences companies of all sizes," he said.