Pabna BSCIC busy producing essential products 

Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) industrial estate in Pabna is busy manufacturing lifesaving drugs, food items and other essential products despite coronavirus pandemic. 

Pabna BSCIC industrial authorities have informed that there are 203 factories and 167 of them are operative right now and people there are complying with health safety instructions, according to a statement from the Ministry of Industries. 

The country's largest drugs manufacturer Square Pharmaceuticals Limited has five units within the estate – chemical division, ayurvedic division, agrovet division of the mother company alongside units of Square Herbal and Nutraceuticals and Square Pharma Packages Limited. Besides catering the local market, Square exports drugs across continents and the units are fully operative now.  

There are 120 factories producing food items and animal foods, 14 light engineering plants, four spinners, four chemical manufacturers, two printing and packaging factories and some others in the estate. 

The estate processes around 500 tonnes of rice, 350-400 tonnes of lentils and 7-8 tonnes of mustard oil each day, which are mainly supplied to the northern part of the country, according to Panba BSCIC officer Kamal Parvez. 

The government is running a poultry hatchery there, which supplies around 3 lakh eggs for breeding and 3 lakh one-day old chicks each year. 

The estate employes around 10 thousand people, most of whom are under strict health measures enforced and ensured by the estate authorities, according to Md Rafikul Islam, a deputy general manager of the estate. 

Pabna industrial estate began its journey in 1962 on 110 acres of land, the Ministry of Industries later allowed it to expand into additional 15 acres in 2016.