Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who usually loves to deliver one-liners to the electronic media, is tongue-tied these days. He has every reason to. For, he has no answer to embarrassing questions on the incidence of female foeticide and the fake drug racket.
Patnaik is quite uncomfortable, particularly on the issue of manufacturing and sale of fake medicines. Health minister Duryodhan Majhi has blamed Patnaik for the spurious drug trade. Majhi, a tribal leader known for his integrity, disclosed last week the CM sat over his letter wherein he had given details about the circulation of fake medicines. Patnaik is now trying to wriggle out of the mess by conducting raids.
The state?s health sector has been in chaos ever since the Nayagarh female foeticide cases were reported in the media. Over seven female foetus were found in a deserted place outside Nayagarh town. There was outrage over the incident. Soon after, came the unearthing of fake medicine units at Kantabanji in Balangir district. Raids on various drug stores exposed a parallel drug market.
Launching a massive exercise to restore his battered image, Patnaik set up a high-level task force to take action against the culprits. He has handed over the cases to the crime branch and has started personally monitoring the activities of the enforcing agencies. The crime branch has so far arrested Sudhir Kumar Brahma, a top government doctor at captial hospital, Bhubaneswar. ??We are looking for some more government doctors in the case of foeticide??, said IG, crime branch, Bijya Kumar Sharma. Owners of several clinics and nursing homes in Bhubaneswar, Nayagarh and other places have also been held. State health department raided 277 nursing homes. During inspection, it was found that about 78 of these were unregistered. Till now, 35 of these have been sealed. Similarly, 41 unlicensed ultra-sound clinics and 25 abortion centres have been shut down.
The crime branch also raided the fake medicine factory in Kantabanji and arrested the kingpin, Shankar Agarwal. Investigations showed that Agarwal was not only manufacturing fake allopathic medicines, but also ayurvedic and homeopathic medicines. Police found genuine medicines that were diluted and bottled at this factory. The police gathered vital information regarding supply of fake drugs to Orissa from manufacturing units at Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, the Opposition has started baying for Patnaik?s blood. Congress state president Jayadev Jena demanded that the CM resign immediately taking moral responsibility for both these crimes. Orissa Gana Parisad president, Bijya Mahapatra, has demanded that the cases be handed over to the CBI. The CPI and CPM have also launched a state-wide agitation demanding CBI probe in this matter.
Eventually, Patnaik may survive this crisis. But, certainly, his image would take a big dent.