Protesting chemists seen arguing with the police during protest staged at Ludhiana on Saturday.
City Air News photo: Mandeep Kumar Verma
Ludhiana, April 21, 2013: Patients had to suffer a lot on Saturday due to about 3-hour-long strike by about 4,000 retail chemists and 500 wholesale chemists in the city.
This protest was lodged against the raids conducted by the local police and health department on medical stores in the city for the last three-four days.
Agitated chemists gathered and staged a dharna at Bharat Nagar Chowk to protest against police raids. Protestors were also seen arguing with the police officers during the protest. However, the dharna was lifted after talks were held between Commissioner of Police Ishwar Singh and Tikka Dalip Singh, a representative of the Wholesale Chemists Association of Pindi Street and Vinod Sharma of Retail Chemists Federation. Leaders of chemists associations also submitted a memorandum to, complaining against the behaviour of the police during the raids.
Protest was an outcome of the registration of police cases against two persons by the Dugri police on Friday. As per the information, police had arrested two persons from their drug stores. Police claimed that both the arrested persons were not qualified chemists. Rather, they were running their shops by using the license of other people by paying them monthly.