Calcutta Chemists Bandh Tomorrow

Over 6,000 chemist shops in the city will remain closed tomorrow in protest against the Calcutta Municipal Corporations insistence that the outlets obtain a health licence to continue trade.

The Calcutta Municipal Corporation has laid down that a trade licence alone would not make the shops eligible to do business. Retail trade and wholesale business to the extent of Rs 2.4 crore stands to be affected following a one-day bandh enforceable under the Calcutta Municipal Corporation area.

Kamal Kumar Mukim, general secretary of the Bengal Chemists & Druggists Association (BCDA), lodged a strong protest against the new norms wherein trade licences would not be renewed without a health licence.

He said that the trade licence or Municipal Trade Enlistment Certificate should automatically be granted to a drug & chemist shop holding a valid drug licence issued by the state governments Directorate of Drugs Control under the provisions of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act 1940 & Drug Rules of 1945.

A health licence, he said, was only applicable in cases where there was the use of residential premises for non-residential purposes.

It has nothing to do with health, Mukim said, adding that a drug licence holder was specifically exempted from obtaining a health licence under the Calcutta Municipal Act.

The Bengal Chemists & Druggists Association also said that it was on the assurance of state finance minister Asim Dasgupta that chemists in the city began paying professional tax of Rs 900 a year, on the understanding that they would be granted a trade licence by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation against a payment of Rs 10.

The finance ministers promise, the BCDA said, has been completely ignored by the CMC.

As a result, the trade licences of about 4,500 chemists were not been renewed and the few renewals that were made, were conducted on an arbitrary basis.The Calcutta Municipal Corporation, the Bengal Chemists & Druggists Association held, has further compounded the problems by initiating prosecution notices to those who refused to obtain health licences to renew their trade licences.

Mukim said that the one-day bandh on August 7 would mark the beginning of a bigger movement by the Bengal Chemists & Druggists Association if the situation was not corrected.