Jagran correspondent, Rampur. Codeine syrup is being sold illegally in the district. Some firm operators are selling it secretly. They do not have accounts of its purchases and sales. Half a dozen firms in the district have come under suspicion.
The pharmaceutical department has become alert after receiving information about these firms purchasing goods from Ghaziabad and secretly consuming them here. Local officials have also received its tip from Ghaziabad. The Drug Inspector has issued notices to the firms under suspicion and asked for accounts of purchases and sales.
The state government has become strict against the firms selling codeine syrup illegally. Illegal buying and selling of codeine syrup has been done by 298 firms across the state. Half a dozen firms from the district are also included in this. The pharmaceutical department is investigating against these firms.
A tip has been received from Ghaziabad about these firms of the district. Ghaziabad's pharmaceutical department officials had raided some wholesalers there, which revealed that half a dozen firms from Rampur had purchased large quantities of goods from Ghaziabad, for which the firm had no record of sale.
Notices have been sent to all these firms seeking their answers. So far, response has been received from only one firm. These firms doing illegal sales are in Swar and Tanda tehsils including Sadar.
Drug Inspector Mukesh Kumar said that if the reply to the notice is not satisfactory, further action will be taken. If the sales accounts are not given by the firm then an FIR will be lodged against them. He told that codeine syrup is not banned. It cannot be sold without doctor's prescription.
FIR lodged against six people so far for illegal sale of codeine syrup
Rampur: Selling codeine cough syrup without doctor's prescription is illegal and it is necessary for all medicine sellers to keep records of its sale. Despite this, some medicine sellers are secretly selling it without bill. In the last four months, an FIR has been registered by the Pharmaceutical Department against six people on charges of illegal sale of codeine syrup.
An FIR has been registered against three vendors this month. In the FIR lodged at Ganj Kotwali, drug wholesalers Umar, Salman of Mohalla Pakka Bagh in the city and Usman of Mohalla Gher Qalandar Khan have been named. On checking at his place, no storage of cough syrup was found, although it was purchased by him from companies.
He sold all the goods without invoice. Umar sold 29 thousand syrups, which cost Rs 16.82 lakh. Salman sold 91 thousand syrups worth Rs 93 lakh and Usman sold 42 thousand syrup worth Rs 25 lakh.
Everyone was given notice to provide sales records. Records like sales bill, stock register etc. were not given by them. On this, the drug licenses of all three have been cancelled.
Codeine syrup worth Rs 17 lakh was found from the warehouse three months ago.
The authorities have been receiving complaints of sale of codeine syrup without prescription several times in the district. On a similar complaint, on the orders of the District Magistrate, a joint team of the Drug and Excise Department had raided the Taj Medical Store in Rajdwara of the city on August 24. After this the medical was sealed and later its license was suspended.
After this, a major action was taken on September 8. A joint team of drug and police departments raided a warehouse near Mori Gate. A large quantity of Conducts TR 100 ml cough syrup was found lying here. After counting, 11893 bottles of syrup were found. Its price was Rs 17 lakh.
In this case, an FIR was lodged by the Drug Inspector against three people in the city police station. In this, Abdul Qadir of Karimpur Garvi village of Tanda police station area, Ahsan Noori of village Parsupura of Tanda and Anees of Bajawala village of Azimnagar police station area were named.
In this case, the police had arrested Ahsan Noori and Abdul Qadir and sent them to jail, while Anees is absconding. In the same case, the Drug Department had also sent samples of the syrup found in the warehouse to the Lucknow laboratory for testing.
Drug Inspector Mukesh Kumar said that the sample has been tested to contain codeine in the syrup. Now a complaint will be filed in the court against the three accused doing illegal business in the name of medicines.