New Delhi: Even as 17 children in Madhya Pradesh and four children in Rajasthan died due to cough syrup, the Congress on Tuesday hit back at the BJP government’s in both the states and demanded for a judicial probe.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in Rajasthan Tikaram Jully hit back at the state government for not banning the cough syrup that had led to death of several children in the state.
Firing salvos at the state government, Jully asked, “I also have a question for this government that why it has to take supplies from those companies which are blacklisted or infamous and against which allegations are made again and again?”
He said that this is not the first time that the company in question is facing quality questions.
He pointed out that this adulteration of the standard in cough syrup, which is called DEG (Diethylene Glycol) in medical language, led to the death of about 12 children in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, in 2022 it led to 70 deaths in Gambia, and in Uzbekistan 20 children had died.
The Congress leader noted that it was then probed but the Indian government washed its hands off the matter saying that it was manufactured for export, hence it has no impact here in India.
He also highlighted that out of the four children died in recent days in the state due to cough syrup, one of the child is from Bharatpur district, the native district of Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and instead of banning the cough syrup a committee has been formed, and everyone knows the reality of the committee. “If any issue needs to be suppressed then a committee is formed,” he alleged.
He targeted the state government and said that after the death of several children in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan they said that the particular batch number was not of standard quality but kept on the sale of the cough syrup.
And when Tamil Nadu government after getting alert from Madhya Pradesh government banned the same cough syrup within 24 hours.
“Why did the Madhya Pradesh ban it after death of nine children and Rajasthan government did not ban it?” Jully asked.
He also remarked that the Rajasthsn Health Minister left the press conference after he was asked about the cough syrup.
He further alleged that the cough syrup in question has DEG, but the government’s are denying it and instead of getting it checked thoroughly, they are delaying the process and it is pointing towards a larger conspiracy.
Meanwhile, Singhar also targeted Mohan Yadav saying that in Chindawara’s Parasiya assembly seat, 16 children died due to same cough syrup.
Our MLA Sohan Valmiki staged a protest in Chindwara and also warned the state government by writing a letter to the Chief Minister. I also wrote and demanded for a judicial probe,” Singhar said.
He asked why the government did not wake up despite MLAs writing letter to them.
He pointed out that after several deaths, the dead body of a guild child was brought out and taken for a postmortem. Whereas the Chief Minister was busy in getting his photograph clicked at Kaziranga National Park with elephants, he rued.
Taking a swipe at the state government and Mohan Uadav, the Madhya Pradesh CLP Leader said, “What an insensitive Chief Minister, what kind of government… their Deputy Chief Minister said four to five days ago that no one is dying from cough syrup. They also gave clean chit to that compnay”
Singhar alleged that even many children are getting treated at other hospitals and their parents had spent lakhs of rupees. “But the state government has announced ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh,” he said, demanding that the state government should take care of the medical bills of these families that they had spent and then provide ex gratia
Both the leaders then demanded for a judicial probe into the death of children due to cough syrup.
