Govt refutes EPS’s charge on bid to shut Amma pharmacies

Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday alleged that the DMK government was destroying and destabilising Amma brand of schemes and is poised to close down Amma pharmacies that has been helping the public to avail medicines at a discounted price.

Earlier, the DMK government closed Amma water distributed to passengers and had reduced the operations of Amma Canteen. Amma Canteen, a flagship scheme of former CM J Jayalalithaa, had been feeding the poor, but the government has reduced the supply of provisions to it and the canteen workers’ salaries are also slashed, EPS alleged in his statement.

The government vested with political vendetta had also sidelined the Amma cement brand and had launched Valimai cement, which is costlier when compared to the Amma cement. Similarly, new norms had been included for the beneficiaries under Thaaliku Thangam scheme, EPS said.

AIADMK’s joint coordinator also wondered the performance of the expert committees set up by the DMK government to improve the state’s economy and blamed the government for destabilising the welfare schemes brought in by the AIADMK government.

However, the government refuted the statements of Palaniswami and said that the number of Amma Pharmacies have gone up from 126 to 131 after the new government came to power.

Chief Minister MK Stalin had himself made a budget announcement that in the five years, additional 300 pharmacy outlets will be opened across the state at the rate of 60 per year, the government said.