Congress demands CBI inquiry into fake drugs

Bhubaneswar, July 30 (UNI) The Congress party today staged a demonstration before Raj Bhawan here demanding a CBI inquiry into fake drugs racket in Orissa.

A five-member delegation led by PCC president Jayadev Jena in a memorandum to Governor Rameswar Thakur urged him to take steps for the CBI inquiry to probe the manufacture and marketing of fake drugs in the state.

Unearthing of a huge quantity of spurious drug worth crores of rupees from Kantabanjhi area of Bolangir district recently rocked the state.

The opposition political parties, holding Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Health Minister Duryadhan Majhi responsible for the incident, have demanded their resignation.

The government had already ordered a Crime Branch inquiry and sent more than 600 samples of medicine to laboratory for testing.

Earlier police arrested some party activists when the youth wing of the Congress party marched towards the Secretariat violating the prohibitory order imposed under 144 of the CrPC in the area.

Meanwhile, the state unit of the CPI demanded resignation of the Chief Minister for not taking any action against the illegal medicine manufacturers even though the Minister of state for Health D Majhi had informed him about it eight months back.

The party also demanded that the Chief Minister be arrested on the charges of conspiracy to murder while protecting the illegal drug manufacturers.

Party state unit secretary Dibakar Naik said a resolution in this regard was passed in the party working Committee meeting here last night.

Mr Naik said if the Chief Minister did not resign a memorandum demanding the dismissal of him and to file conspiracy to murder case against him would be submitted to the Governor after the state Council convention today.

UNI