Lucknow, December 29 (IANS). The Uttar Pradesh government has taken the strictest action against illegal drugs in the last nine and a half years. The swift action taken under the zero tolerance policy of Yogi government has broken the back of illegal drug dealers. In this sequence, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed the Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) to run a campaign for effective control on illegal storage, buying, selling, distribution and illegal diversion of codeine cough syrup and NDPS category medicines.
The campaign was started three months ago on the instructions of CM Yogi. The department launched a thorough internal investigation before launching the country’s biggest crackdown on illegal diversion of codeine cough syrup. During this period, investigation was conducted in states like Jharkhand, Haryana, Himachal and Uttarakhand and evidence was collected about their business relationships with super stockists and wholesalers of UP. After this, crackdown started in the state, which exposed the layers of illegal diversion of syrup.
Based on the report of SSDA, police and STF started action to nab the drug dealers. On the instructions of the CM, cases were registered under NDPS and BNS against those who used the syrup as an intoxicant. The Allahabad High Court rejected the writ petitions of the accused in 22 cases, upholding the prosecution under the NDPS Act. The court also rejected the writ petitions for arrest stay by the accused in 22 cases.
In the last three months, FSDA investigated more than 332 wholesale drug selling establishments in a total of 52 districts on illegal storage, purchase, sale, distribution and illegal diversion of codeine-containing cough syrup and NDPS category drugs. On the basis of archival and physical evidence obtained during the investigation, a report was lodged against a total of 161 firms/operators of 36 districts under relevant sections of BNS and NDPS Act. At the same time, a letter was written to the District Magistrate to take action under the Gangster Act so that the property acquired from illegal drugs could be confiscated.
On the instructions of CM Yogi, FSDA took strict action against those smuggling codeine cough syrup as an intoxicant, which is the biggest crackdown in the entire country. FSDA Commissioner formed several teams at the district level to get to the bottom of the matter. A team was formed at the headquarters to monitor the teams. Various teams went to different states for investigation and collected evidence secretly. The team collected details of quota and offtake of codeine phosphate from the Central Narcotics Bureau, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.
The team visited Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Uttarakhand to investigate the firms manufacturing codeine cough syrup. Records related to the manufacturing and distribution of syrup were collected from here. After this, we went to Ranchi, Delhi and Lucknow for the purchase and sale records of syrup. During this time, it was found that most of the wholesalers did not have verification of stock arrival and no sales bill was found in the name of retail medical stores, whereas by billing in the name of super stockists of Delhi and Ranchi and some identified wholesalers associated with them, a parallel distribution chain of NDPS category medicines along with syrup was created.
Later, the entire chain was connected and then the case of illegal diversion of syrup came to light. In many cases the firms failed to submit sales bills, while some firms only had paper records showing the purchase and sale of syrup. Even in the sales details presented, the actual supply of codeine cough syrup to any retail pharmaceutical establishment could not be verified, due to which the alleged supply was found to be unverified. In the year 2024-25, the supply of codeine cough syrup in the state was found to be many times more than the actual medical requirement.
The investigation found supply of more than 2.23 crore bottles of Phensidil manufactured by Abbott Health Care, more than 73 lakh bottles of Escoff manufactured by Laborat Pharmaceuticals and about 25 lakh bottles manufactured by other companies, the medical use of which could not be certified.
FSDA submitted report to CM and police. Later, based on the report, police and STF registered 79 cases. So far 85 accused have been arrested in this. Currently action is going on. At the same time, the SIT formed in the case is also investigating. If experts are to be believed, the SIT may submit the investigation report to the CM next month.
On the instructions of Chief Minister Yogi, FSDA Headquarters has sent a proposal to the government to make the wholesale drug sales licensing system more strict and transparent. In this, a proposal has been sent for geo tagging of the wholesale establishment, confirmation of storage capacity and getting them photographed. At the same time, a proposal has also been sent to get the experience certificate of the technical person of the establishment verified by the Drug Inspector. A proposal is being sent to the Government of India to issue necessary notification and guidelines for the manufacturing, bulk supply, distribution and monitoring of codeine cough syrup.
–IANS
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