VOICES AGAINST JUBILANT LIFE SCIENCES FALL SILENT IN MYSURU
Two incidents marked the Covid-19 map in Karnataka on June 1, the day the lockdown was nearly lifted.
Padarayanapura's corporator Imram Pasha was booked for negligence resulting in the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, but in Mysuru, Jubilant Life-sciences factory, from which emerged 71 out of the 94 Covid-19 cases reported in the district, resumed production.
The worst part is that the outbreak of pandemic in the factory cost the minister in charge of the Mysuru district his job and suddenly a host of politicians, who tried raising their voices against the company, mysteriously fell silent. The only feeble voice heard was from a former Congress MP of Chamarajnagar, R. Druvanarayan, who is still seeking a CBI probe into the entire episode.
Even senior IAS officer Harsh Gupta, who was asked to find the reason behind outbreak of pandemic in the factory premises, wound up the investigation, stating that he did not get cooperation from anyone.
Till the Covid-19 outbreak, barring the people of Nanjanagud, a sleepy, religious town adjacent to Mysuru, hardly anyone heard about Jubilant Lifesciences, popularly known as Jubilant Pharma. The first Covid19 positive case in the district was reported through a security guard in the factory. Since then, there was no stopping and by the time the district administration took control of the situation, 71 of the total 94 cases reported in the district originated from the Jubilant premises and most of them were employees of Jubilant itself.
Initially, there were many theories about how the security guard contracted virus. It was said that a German national had stayed in the guest house and the guard contracted through him. As the number of cases started swelling, many more theories started rolling out. One of them was that the company had procured raw material from China in a container. It was also revealed that the company had visitors from various places like
Germany, Japan and other countries.
The first one to voice against the company was Nanjangud BJP MLA Harshavardhan, who wanted a thorough investigation into source of Covid-19 in the company premises. He was supported by the then district incharge minister V. Somanna, who issued summons to the company's managing director, who was out of station.
Out of the blue, Mysuru BJP MP Pratap Simha rushed to the support of the company, saying that it was important to fight Covid-19, instead of finding fault. Next day, minister Somanna reached Mysuru from Bengaluru for taking stock of the situation.
As he reached the city and was offering prayers near a temple, he received the news that he was no more in-charge of Mysuru. He was replaced by recent turncoat S.T. Somashekhar, who is cooperative minister. Meanwhile, Nanjangud MLA Harshavardhan was silenced through his father-in-law and BJP MP Srinivas Prasad.
This shocked the entire BJP, where many ministers and legislators had issued statements against the company. They realised that the company had strong proximity to top leaders of BJP and Congress. The local BJP leaders say that some of the orders had come from office of present BJP national president J. P. Nadda.
While the ruling
BJP was under utter confusion, there was no voice either from the opposition side. While the JD (S) headed by former prime minister H. D. Deve Gowda decided not to rake up the issue, even the Congress maintained silence. Neither KPCC designated president D. K. Shivakumar, nor former chief minister Siddaramaiah came out with any demands. Interestingly, half of the affected people at Jubilant fall under Siddaramaiah's former constituency Varuna, which is now being represented by his son Dr Yathindra. Though Dr Yathindra called a press conference once, it was cancelled immediately.
As the Covid-19 problem in Mysuru came under control, the company officials held a meeting with industries minister Jagadish Shettar and home minister Basavaraj Bommai, along with MLAs from the Mysuru region. Soon after the meeting, home minister Bommai announced that the company had been given permission to restart production after the lockdown was over. He also said that there was no point in trying to dig into the source, as nothing came out of IAS office Harsh Gupta's report.
Amidst all odds, former Chamarajnagar Congress MP Druvanarayan has taken up fight against the company. He has urged the government to order a CBI probe into entire Covid-19 episode revolving around Jubilant Pharma.