At a joint press briefing held here with Congress Legislature Party leader in the Rajasthan Assembly, Tika Ram Jully, and the party’s legislature party leader in Madhya Pradesh, Umang Singhar, serious allegations were made regarding the deaths of children linked to cough syrup consumption.
Umang Singhar claimed that 16 children have died in Chhindwara and stated that the local Congress MLA had repeatedly warned the government, but no action was taken. “When the matter escalated, the body of a girl child was exhumed from the grave and a postmortem conducted. Children kept dying in the state while the chief minister was roaming in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park,” he alleged.
Singhar further criticized the deputy chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Rajendra Shukla, who has denied any deaths due to the cough syrup and has consistently cleared the company producing it. “After all, what kind of an insensitive government is this? What is the link between the deputy chief minister and the medicine company?” he questioned.
Highlighting negligence, Singhar said that while tests are routinely conducted even for minor illnesses, no tests were performed when children’s kidneys were failing in Madhya Pradesh. He accused the pharmaceutical company of deliberately choosing a tribal area like Parasia, knowing that Dalits, tribals, and poor people live there whose voices could be suppressed. “If such companies are doing business in small districts in collaboration with the government, are ministers taking a share from these companies?” he asked.
Singhar also accused the chief ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh of being mere “puppets,” claiming that decisions come directly from Delhi. “There are about 25,000 children in Parasia. Has the government launched any campaign to identify who has been affected? The BJP government is giving only Rs 4 lakh as compensation to the families of the deceased. Is the price of a mother’s empty lap just Rs 4 lakh?” he demanded.
Calling on the government’s humanity, Singhar urged a judicial inquiry into the children’s deaths and demanded a government job for a member of each affected family. “The families of the deceased children should receive compensation equal to the amount spent on their treatment. There should be no politics in this,” he stressed.
Tika Ram Jully criticized the prime minister as well, stating, “While the prime minister claims to have served the country for 25 years in various positions, all this is happening under his regime. He should apologize to the country over this issue.”
Addressing the situation in Rajasthan, Jully said, “Several children have died after consuming cough syrup, and many others are seriously ill. Despite this, the BJP government here is not ready to accept that children’s deaths were caused by the cough syrup. My question to the Rajasthan government is: What is the compulsion to procure drug supplies from blacklisted and notorious pharmaceutical companies?”
Following the deaths of 14 children linked to the Coldrif cough syrup in Madhya Pradesh, several states have ramped up actions to halt its consumption and supply. Madhya Pradesh’s government has suspended three officials and transferred the drug controller amid the controversy.
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