Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Jitu Patwari on Saturday accused the state government of negligence in connection with the death of more than 20 children, allegedly by contaminated cough syrup, and demanded the resignation of the state health minister, a CBI probe, and the death penalty for the manufacturer. Patwari demanded that cases of culpable homicide be registered against the state’s drug controller and senior health officials. “The owner of the company who has been arrested from Tamil Nadu should be given the death penalty. But why are you leaving the drug controller, who is the main culprit of the incident? Why did the health minister keep giving him the clean chit? This means there was corruption," Patwari alleged. He said that at least 22 children, mostly from Chhindwara district, died due to renal failure after consuming Coldrif cough syrup manufactured in Tamil Nadu’s Kancheepuram district. Several others are undergoing treatment in Nagpur. “According to government records, 157 bottles of this syrup were sold in one month… BJP takes votes from you by raising Hindu-Muslim issues and by saying different kinds of negative things about the Congress. The drug controller should be arrested, and a case of murder should be registered against him. The state health minister should take responsibility and resign. If he is not resigning, then the CM should dismiss him," he said. Patwari alleged that despite a laboratory report from Nagpur on September 19 confirming that the children’s deaths were due to contaminated syrup, the government “suppressed the findings” and “continued celebrating festivals.” “More than 25 children died after consuming toxic syrup. Even after eight deaths, no post-mortems were conducted and no departmental meetings were held,” he alleged. The Congress chief demanded that the Principal Secretary (Health) be removed from office and a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry be initiated to probe what he called “an act of culpable homicide.” The BJP, which has been on the defensive, has tried to blame the Tamil Nadu government. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav had claimed that "the Tamil Nadu government has not extended the expected cooperation”. "The Tamil Nadu Drug Controller should have conducted a proper investigation of the company. The investigation so far indicates that the error originated at the manufacturing level. The faulty medicine was administered to children, leading to loss of lives," Yadav said. "As soon as the Tamil Nadu government’s report was received, the Madhya Pradesh government banned the cough syrup and arrested the company owner… Anyone can visit the site and see for themselves. Madhya Pradesh’s children and families are the victims here, and since the deaths occurred in the state, the government will not hold back from taking strict action against anyone found guilty," he said. BJP state president Hemant Khandelwal accused the Congress of politicising the tragedy and shifting blame away from the Tamil Nadu government. “The fact is, the factory is in a Congress-backed INDIA bloc-ruled state,” Khandelwal said. He said the CM has already constituted an SIT to probe the deaths.
