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Chennai, Oct 14 (IANS) Congress MP Karti Chidambaram on Tuesday demanded a comprehensive investigation into the deaths of 22 children who allegedly consumed contaminated cough syrup manufactured in Tamil Nadu.
He described the incident as “an unforgivable public health disaster” and urged the government to hold accountability at all levels and ensure such negligence does not happen again.
In a strongly worded statement, Karti said the government should trace the supply chain of the contaminated medicines and find out where the lapses occurred.
“How did the drug pass the quality tests? Were proper quality checks done? Who certified the product as safe? Each of these questions needs to be examined in detail,” he said.
The Congress MP stressed that the deaths of more than 20 children cannot be dismissed as mere statistics. His comments come amid an intense investigation into Srisan Pharmaceuticals, a Tamil Nadu-based company that manufactures Coldriff cough syrup, in connection with the tragedy.
On Monday, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out searches at seven locations across Chennai as part of a money laundering probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) – including the case of company owner S. Ranganathan’s residence and the offices of senior officials of the Tamil Nadu Drug Control Department were also involved.
The ED action follows the arrest of Ranganathan (75) by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Madhya Pradesh with the assistance of Chennai Police on October 9. He was absconding after reports of death of children surfaced in Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh.
Subsequent raids at the company’s Kancheepuram manufacturing facility revealed more than 300 safety and regulatory violations, including the use of non-pharmaceutical grade chemicals.
Laboratory analysis in Chennai confirmed that the syrup contained 48.6 percent diethylene glycol (DEG), a highly toxic industrial solvent that causes kidney failure. Officials suspect that cost-cutting measures led to the use of substandard materials, resulting in the deadly contamination.
–IANS
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