Govt to set up herbal park to fight dreaded diseases

Kochi, Oct 3: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has launched a Rs 15 crore project to identify and classify indigenous herbs which could help fight dreaded diseases, DRDO Chief Controller (R&D) A Sivathanu Pillai said on Friday, Oct 3.

Addressing a press conference here, Dr Pillai said under the project, 'Charak,' named after the great Ayurveda exponent, the DRDO would partner with the Kerala Government to set up a herbal park where these medicinal plants would be grown.

With the assistance of bio-technology laboratories, the molecules would be identified and documented and medicines prepared to fight dreaded diseases for which modern medicine had no solution.

The Kerala Government, which had recently got a Rs ten crore grant from the Centre, for its 'Care Keralam' project to standardise Ayurvedic medicines, would provide land for the park, Dr Pillai said.

On futuristic technologies, Dr Pillai said he had suggested to the handloom cluster units in Tirupur to come up with titanium-coated vests which could help regulate temperature.

DRDO's Naval Materials Research Laboratory (NMRL), near Mumbai, was perfecting nano technology to manufacture materials to contain oil seepage from ships, NMRL Associate Director A K Shah said.

UNI