Spurious drug trade flourishes in Baddi

Tribune News Service

Ambika Sharma

Solan, November 23

Spurious drug manufacturing seems to be flourishing in the Baddi industrial area with unauthorised premises being used as manufacturing facilities.

Three cases have come to the fore in a few months where drugs were manufactured without any licence. Curbing such activities has become an additional challenge for officials as spurious drugs can affect the health of citizens.

Navneet Marwaha, State Drugs Controller, said a team of four drug inspectors had been directed to keep a vigil in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial cluster. They communicate with manufacturers as well as the police and other agencies to gather inputs and then raid such premises. Their coordinated efforts have led to unearthing of three such cases since September.

The Himachal Drugs Manufacturers Association has also initiated some measures to curb the trend.

Rajesh Gupta, association president, said the printing association had been directed to adopt caution while printing labels and cartons and issue bills only in the name of registered manufacturing firms. This would help check the trend of spurious drugs.

Six types of spurious drugs were seized in September from the premises of Arya Pharma in Baddi. Leading brands of key companies like Mecleods Pharma, Park Pharma and LV Lifesciences had been made illegally.

In yet another case, 301 tablets of Telma-H tablet, which is a leading blood pressure control drug manufactured by Glenmark Pharma, were recovered from Aclime Formulations at Thana village in Baddi in September.

In all such cases, spurious drugs are dispatched soon after manufacturing so as to leave little evidence. Drugs used for common ailments and having high sales are usually targeted.

Both firms had a food licence issued by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Since food licences are now issued by the Gaziabad-based FSSAI after March 31, local officials from the state have no authority to monitor such firms. The absence of central officials to regulate their activities has emboldened such manufacturers.

In the third case, spurious drugs worth more than Rs 1 crore were recovered from a godown at Baddi yesterday.

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