After the government’s decision to strip Article 370 and bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir into two UTs, some media outlets and individuals have made it their primary job to spread rumours and misinformation to incite violence and protests.
Yesterday, leftist propaganda website The Wire had published a report suggesting that there is a shortage of life-saving medicines in Kashmir. In the article titled “Kashmir Running Short of Life Saving Drugs as Clampdown Continues,” it suggested that local drug shops have run short of supplies in Srinagar district.
However, Shahid Choudhary, District Magistrate of Srinagar, had quoted The Wire’s story and tweeted, “All concerns and worries are deeply appreciated but we were not low on medical stocks even for a single day. No interruption in supplies. Still open to help individual cases, if any.”
Today the district administration of Srinagar has again dismissed social media posts claiming that due to ‘high demand and low supply’, black-marketing of medicines is going up and costs are too high for many patients to afford.
While we appreciate the samaritans reaching out to the poor & needy, Pl note #Kashmiri distributors are not overcharging medicines. Moroever medicines worth Rs 23.83 Cr reached end retailers in last 20 days. Slightly more than monthly average. pic.twitter.com/M4SdamMTgk
— Srinagar district administration (@srinagaradmin) August 24, 2019
A person named Kiran Verma had claimed in a Facebook post that the cost of medicines in Jammu and Kashmir has been skyrocketing and he and his friends will be taking medicines to Srinagar from Delhi.
Verma had further asked people to come forward and donate money to him so that he can ‘buy medicines for Kashmiri people’.
Srinagar Administration has clarified that though the spirit of helping the poor and needy is appreciated, there is neither shortage nor overpricing of medicines in Kashmir. It further stated that in the last 20 days, medicines worth 23.83 crores have reached end retailers, which is slightly higher than the normal monthly average.
The government along with local administration have ensured that while the restrictions are in place, there is no shortage of food, medicines, commodities or services in Jammu and Kashmir.
