235 outlets found not keeping sale, purchase records
Irfan Tramboo
SRINAGAR, Jan 11: The Drug & Food Control Organization (D&FCO) has cancelled nearly 340 drug licences in J&K till November last year while 240 more have been suspended for various violations that were noted by the concerned, prompting the authorities to take the necessary action as per the law.
As per details available with the ‘Excelsior’, in November 2022 alone, 37 such licences were cancelled in the Kashmir division, while in Jammu, during the period, 20 drug licences were cancelled. Concerning the licences that have been suspended during November, 23 drug license holders faced the action in Jammu and 34 in the Kashmir division.
Similarly, upon noting violations of various kinds, the D&FCO, in November, issued show cause notices to 19 establishments in Jammu while in Kashmir, 55 show cause notices have been served to the establishments for resorting to violations. Until November last year, across J&K, 576 show cause notices were served to drug establishments for various violations.
With regard to the issuance of fresh retail and wholesale drug licences, the details reveal that across J&K, 959 retail and 230 wholesale licences have been issued in 2022 till November. Concerning the division-wise break-up, 72 retail, and 10 wholesale drug licenses have been issued in Jammu only in November last year, while in Kashmir, the number of retail and wholesale drug licences issued is 63 and 2 respectively.
Further, as per details, in November as well as throughout the year, scores of establishments were reported to be run by unqualified persons. 8 such establishments were reported in the Jammu division while 18 were found operating in Kashmir. Overall, in the year 2022 till November, 92 such establishments came to the fore in Jammu and 150 in the Kashmir division and faced the necessary action.
Similarly, the establishments which were found not maintaining sale and purchase records have also come to the fore in J&K. Till November last year, 49 such establishments in Jammu and 115 in Kashmir had to face the action warranted as per the law. In total, as per details, 235 such establishments were found to be operating across J&K.
As per the details, the total number of retail drug establishments functional across J&K has been given out as 16297 while the number of drug establishments which have installed CCTV cameras-which is now mandatory-so far across J&K has been given out as 7267 which is just over 44 per cent drug establishments ensuring compliance across the UT.
The details put out by the D&FCO stated that the number of drug establishments across the UT which have shown compliance to the directives under which adherence to the computerized billing system is a must, has been given out as 3731, which is nearly 23 per cent of the total across J&K.
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