Pharma PSU land on block

New Delhi: The government is contemplating the sale of prime properties worth thousands of crores owned by state-owned pharma firms such as Hindustan Antibiotics, BCPL and IDPL but are lying unutilised in cities like Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad.

“Pharma PSUs are sitting on huge land bank. They have prime properties in various cities as well as metros. These assets can be encashed,” said a senior government official. “Huge chunks of land are lying unused of many of these PSUs. Some are loss making, while some are profitable having land in prime localities worth thousands of crores,” the official said.

However, the official said that no decision has been taken on the issue so far and only a preliminary idea has been floated to capitalise on the unused land bank with PSUs. PSUs such as Indian Drugs and Pharmaceut-icals Ltd, Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Hindustan Antibio-tics and Hindustan Organic Chemicals Ltd  are on the radar. IDPL has assets in Gu-rgaon, Hyderabad, Haridwar; BCPL has land in Kolkata, Mumbai, Ka-npur; HAL in Pune and HOCL in Maharashtra and Kerala.