CONGRESS SLAMS BJP FOR PRESSURISING POLICE
The ruling party also defended police action to summon the distributor of Remdesivir for inquiry
Congress, which shares power with Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, has refuted the charges made by the Leader of Opposition (LOP) Devendra Fadnavis that the state government was playing politics in the COVID-19 pandemic. It also retorted to the allegations that the
Maharashtra Police was harassing a Daman-based Remdesivir supplier for agreeing to supply a stock of the drug to the state on the request of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders.
The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman Sachin Sawant in a blistering attack said, "Absolutely astonishing to see both LOPs Devendra Fadnavis and Pravin Darekar putting pressure on the Mumbai Police for a businessman. What is the fault of the police? They had intelligence that a large stock of 60,000 vials of Remdesivir is hiding with the exporters of Brook Laboratories, which is not reported. After the export ban, companies must inform Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and the state Food and Drug Administration (FDA) details of stock left with them. Mumbai Police had called the director for inquiry, but he kept evading it. After two days, he came. But BJP leaders became so upset that they personally rushed to his support.”
In a pandemic when there is shortage of Remdesivir, what do you expect from police? questioned Sawant. “Can't they call anyone for inquiry? Do BJP leaders take such steps for the common people? We congratulate Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Manjunath Singe and the team for promptly performing their duty and condemning the act of BJP leaders.”
On Saturday night, Fadnavis and Darekar went to DCP Manjunath Singe's office after the Bruck Pharma company distributor was summoned for inquiry. Fadnavis targeted the MVA government and said, "As we all are fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic, in such a difficult time, in an extremely shameful act, MVA suddenly detained officials of Bruck Pharma who were supposed to supply Remdesivir to Maharashtra.”
He further noted that the company official took all permissions from Maharashtra and Daman administration. The union minister himself asked him to supply maximum Remdesivir to Maharashtra. “If MVA is busy in such cheap politics, it is a matter of utter shame!" he said.
However, Singe said that they had inputs that some exporters had 60,000 vials and they only wanted to verify the same. He refuted the allegations that the distributor was arrested and said he was summoned just for an inquiry given the widespread black marketing of the antiviral injection. "There's a shortage of Remdesivir in the state and black marketing is rampant. We had information about this storage facility. Acting in good faith, we only wanted to verify the inputs. He (supplier) was called for an inquiry, it wasn't an arrest," said Singe.