Coldrif cough syrup racket rocks Uttar Pradesh Assembly; CM denies deaths due to fake medicine

LUCKNOW: Refuting allegations of deaths due to consumption of fake medicines and codeine syrup, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asserted in the Assembly on Monday that no such case had come to the notice of the state government so far. The CM addressed the allegations made by Leader of the Opposition Mata Prasad Pandey saying, “What is the question, and what issues are being raised? One should come after a full study.” Yogi denied any codeine syrup related deaths in the state. Yogi noted that it was the Samajwadi Party government in 2016 that issued a licence to the largest wholesaler, Vibhore Rana, of the syrup.The CM clarified that codeine syrup was not manufactured in Uttar Pradesh, and the state only had stockists and wholesalers. “Production takes place in states like Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The death cases that came to light were reported from other states and were linked to a syrup manufactured in Tamil Nadu,” he said.Calling it a matter of “illegal diversion, not adulteration,” the chief minister said wholesalers from districts including Saharanpur, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Lucknow and Kanpur were involved in diverting the syrup to states and countries where prohibition exists, leading to its misuse.Elaborating on the action taken so far in connection with the cough syrup issue, Yogi said the government had registered 79 cases, named 225 people and arrested 78 accused.”Raids have been conducted on 134 firms. Transactions linked to this racket are under STF investigation, and if one goes deeper, links to leaders or functionaries of the Samajwadi Party emerge,” he alleged.Responding to Akhilesh’s challenge to bulldoze syrup mafias, he said, “Bulldozer action will come at the right time. Then do not raise slogans against it.”The chief minister assured the House that no offender would be spared.



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