Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 19: The president, Chamber of Commerce & Industry Jammu, Arun Gupta along with representatives of the J&K Chemist Association today met Deputy Commissioner Jammu, Dr Rakesh Minhas, and apprised him about the harassment being faced by Chemist shop owners at the hands of police and Drug Organisation authorities.
Arun Gupta stated that JCCI wholeheartedly welcomes and support the “Nasha Mukt Abhiyan” launched by the administration in Jammu & Kashmir and assures full cooperation from the business community in making the campaign successful, but unnecessary harassment to the traders in the field should be avoided.
During the meeting, the delegation informed the Deputy Commissioner that checking teams were entering Chemist shops without prior information or notice to the shop owners create fear and inconvenience among the Chemist fraternity.
Chamber president urged the Deputy Commissioner (DC) Jammu to take immediate steps to stop the sale of medicines through online platforms, stating that online medicine distribution is dangerous for society and can lead to misuse of drugs without proper regulation and monitoring.
He further expressed concern over the manner in which Drug officials conduct inspections at Chemist shops. Arun Gupta stated that whenever a checking team visits Chemist’s establishments, they are accompanied by police and dog squads, which creates unnecessary fear and harassment among shopkeepers. They are fully cooperating with the administration in maintaining ethical standards and are also actively supporting the “Nasha Mukt Abhiyan” launched by the Administration. He emphasized that Chemist shop owners are respectable businessmen and not criminals, and such treatment is highly unfortunate.
JCCI president requested the Deputy Commissioner to ensure that inspections are conducted in a transparent and respectful manner and in case of any specific input only.
The DC assured the delegation that the matter discussed in today’s meeting would be looked into seriously and we will see that no businessman is harassed unnecessarily.
Prominent among others who accompanied the delegation include Rajesh Gupta, treasurer CCI, Rajender Parsad, senior vice president JCA, Prem Sharma general secretary JCA, Bharat Sadotra president (JCA South), Imitiaz Ahmad, vice president JCA (Bahu), Deepak Soni, Rajinder Singh and others.
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