Bihar crackdown on chemists

By Our Staff Correspondent

PATNA, MAY 3. The State Government today cracked the whip, forcibly opening medicine shops and arresting the office-bearers of the Bihar Chemists and Druggists Association (BCDA) in a bid to break their seven-day-old indefinite strike.

In the light of the Government's directive, the district administration swooped down at the venue where the BCDA office- bearers were holding an emergency meeting to intensify their agitation and picked up six office-bearers, including its president, Mr. B. N. Gupta, and its general secretary, Mr. P. K. Singh. All the six office-bearers were booked under the Essential Services Maintenance Act.

Police resorted to lathi-charge to disrupt the meeting and later used force to break open about half-a-dozen medicine shops. The district officials were preparing inventories at these outlets to make available medicines to the public in the presence of a drug inspector, a sales tax official and a magistrate. The Government has turned down their demand for withdrawal of the one per cent Turn Over Tax (TOT) applicable at four points and had declared the strike illegal by invoking the provisions of ESMA.

The Government has also issued directives to all the civil surgeons to coordinate with their respective district magistrates to ensure supply of medicines to Government hospitals and dispensaries and ensure that the general public were not put to any hardship.

On the other hand, the BCDA, too, has failed an FIR against the district administration accusing them of forcibly opening their shops and tampering with their stocks. The BCDA also alleged that the district officials had misbehaved with their office-bearers and that they had been arrested for no reason.

The BCDA maintained that it would continue with the strike and said that its 20,000 members would not be intimidated by the repressive measures of the State Government.

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Section  : Other States
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