Special teams formed to monitor drug firms in TN: Minister Subramanian
Chennai (PTI): Tamil Nadu has formed special teams to continuously monitor drug manufacturers, with inspections conducted at nearly 50 of the total 397 pharmaceutical firms in the state, Minister for Medical and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian said on Friday.
Speaking in the assembly, Subramanian said the government is inspecting all the pharmaceutical firms in the state following the deaths of about 25 infants in Madhya Pradesh linked to a cough syrup manufactured by a Tamil Nadu-based company.
"Of the 397 pharmaceutical companies, inspections have been carried out in 50 firms involved in manufacturing syrups, during the last one week. Steps are being taken to conduct similar inspections in 52 companies in the coming days. Special Teams have been formed to continuously monitor the drug manufacturers in future," he said.
The Minister was responding to a special calling attention moved by AIADMK Deputy Floor Leader R B Udhayakumar, Congress MLA Aassan Maulaana, among others in the Assembly.
Taking a dig at the Madhya Pradesh government, Subramanian said their drug department emailed the Tamil Nadu drug department on October 1, informing about the death of an infant linked to the cough syrup produced by a TN based firm, instead of communicating with his Ministry or the government.
"Nearly 25 days after the incident in Madhya Pradesh, they have sent an email on October 1. However, considering the gravity of the issue, steps were taken up," he said.
After conducting raids at the Sresan Pharmaceuticals in their factory at Sungavarchatiram near Chennai, he said the sale of the cough syrup Coldrif was banned immediately in Tamil Nadu and 'Stop Production' order was issued to the company.
Though it is the responsibility of the Madhya Pradesh government and the Union Health Ministry, the Tamil Nadu government alerted other States, including Odisha and Puducherry as the company had supplied the cough syrups to the two States.
Subsequently, Subramanian said, a notice was issued to Sresan Pharmaceuticals asking why its drug manufacturing license should not be cancelled.
"Within 48 hours of receiving the information from the Madhya Pradesh government (on October 1), these measures were taken up by the government. As the test of samples conducted by the State Drug department detected that the cough syrup contained 48.6 per cent of Diethylene Glycol (DEG), a toxic substance, the manufacturing license of Sresan Pharmaceuticals has completely been revoked." he said.
A detailed report, including the 'Stop Production' order, was sent to the Drugs Controller General of India and the Deputy Drug Controller, South Zone, he said.
Subramanian further said the government initiated criminal proceedings against the pharmaceutical company and its top management team and on October 9, a Special Investigation Team along with the Tamil Nadu police arrested 75-year-old Ranganathan, the proprietor of the company.
He noted that the regular inspections were conducted by the drug department in 2021 and 2022 at Sresan Pharmaceuticals, but lack of an inspection in 2024 led to the suspension of the senior drug inspector of Kancheepuram zone.
The Minister highlighted that the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (under the Ministry of Health) is required to undertake joint inspection with the state government every three years, but no such inspection has been carried out at Sresan Pharmaceuticals since 2011.
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Women's quota bill would have ensured defeat of democracy, Constitution: Aaditya Thackeray
Mumbai (PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Saturday said that the passage of the women's quota bill would have ensured a "total defeat of democracy", alleging that the legislation, linked with a delimitation exercise, was a political tool designed to reduce the voice of states.
Thackeray, in a post on X, claimed that the Bill would have amended the Constitution for the political means of the ruling regime to increase seats, reduce the voice of many states and enable the gerrymandering of constituencies to ensure unfair victories.
"The very amendment that would have ensured the total defeat of democracy and the Constitution in India stands rejected by the unity of the Opposition MPs," he wrote.
The legislation should have been called "Delimitation to ensure unfair victory Bill", the former minister said, adding that there was a genuine need to enable 33 per cent reservation for women in the current number of seats.
"Now, it is up to the government to ensure that it is implemented in the 543 seats of the Lok Sabha for the 2029 elections and all elections across India, if that is the real intent of the government," he wrote.
A Constitution Amendment Bill to implement reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats was defeated on Friday in the Lower House.
While 298 members voted in support of the Bill, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the Bill required 352 votes for a two-thirds majority.
According to the Constitution Amendment Bill, Lok Sabha seats were to be increased to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
