Certain branches of the All India Chemists and Distributors Federation (AICDF) representing strong states in the country are preparing to sever their ties with the national committee and planning to go back to the leading trade body, AIOCD, according to information received from various sources.
The reason cited to sever the relation is the alleged non performance of the officer-bearers in the national level and an administrative vacuum at the centre indicating a weak leadership. Sources spoke to this reporter said incapability in leadership is found not only in the national level, but in state branches also.
A joint statement in this respect is expected to be made in Mumbai on January 16 by the national leaders of AIOCD and the office-bearers of AICDF belonging to eastern states after their scheduled meeting on that day.
According to members of the Pharmaceutical Traders Welfare Association of Bengal (PTWAB), the state branch of AICDF in West Bengal, the unit is not progressing in the state and the members are going back to their old organisation, Bengal Chemists & Druggists Association, branch of AIOCD. Out of the total 45,000 chemists and druggists in the state, PTWAB had a strength of 2480 members in 2008 and 09, but the figure is getting decreased day by day, said Joydeep Sarkar, secretary of the organisation and national joint secretary of AICDF.
He said after 2009, none of the state branches has given the affiliation fee to the national committee, and the general secretary A N Mohan is not showing interest to collect the money from the member states. The maximum amount to be collected towards affiliation fee from each state is Rs.15000 per year. AICDF was formed in the country as a rebel trade body and as a corrective force to AIOCD in 2008. The former president of the AIOCD, A N Mohan took charge of the general secretary in 2009.
While blaming the national committee for its poor performance, the north eastern leader of AICDF said the national organizing secretary Ashok Khandelwal is not doing his duty well. The national president Kailash Gupta is also inactive, he alleged. The founder secretary, P C Renka, who is doing business in Chennai, has withdrawn from active work due to health problems.
When asked whether the organisation would progress in the national level, Joydeep said there is little chance for it. According to him, there is no activity for AICDF in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Chathisgarh, Jharkhand, JK and in seven north eastern states.
“Mohan is taking care of legal matters and company affairs. The internal problems of the organisation should be sorted out by the organizing secretary. But our secretary is not doing anything. I am not satisfied with the progress of the organisation. There is no increase in the number of life members which is only 300 and most of them are from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka,” he said.
To a question whether he has any plan to join BCDA, he said he is very close to the office-bearers of AIOCD branch in Kolkata and all the trade issues are discussed with them on a daily basis.
According to Prasanta Mohapatra, the general secretary of the Orissa branch of AICDF, the president of AIOCD, J S Shinde has sent three of his people to him requesting a private chat with him to sort out and find solutions to the long standing issues among the members of his organisation and AIOCD, and wanted to meet the national leader personally on 16th of this month in Mumbai. When asked whether merger of two organisations in Orissa would come up in the agenda for discussion, Mahapatra said since Shinde and Suresh Gupta have invited him to Mumbai for settlement of problems, he wants to meet them. According to some other sources, this discussion would be a primary level meeting of the impending merger.
Earlier the Orissa unit of AICDF had filed many cases with the Competition Commission of India against AIOCD alleging unwanted intervention by J S Shinde into the trade affairs of manufacturing companies and his non-members. The CCI has restrained him and his organisation on several occasions and many more cases are still pending with it and with Cuttack High Court.
While responding to the allegations made by state office-bearers, A N Mohan, the national secretary of AICDF said the organisation has completed just four years now. “We are strong in Orissa, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat and West Bengal. We conducted strong agitation in Delhi on the issue of Schedule HX and all the medical shops have co-operated with us. The government of India has held discussion with us, the DCGI has called us for meeting. All these show that we are being recognized and we are on the path of growth.”
When asked about the poor performance of the national committee, he responded that recently the executive meeting was held in Bangalore in January this year, and after the scheduled meeting in Tamil Nadu in February, the organisation will concentrate on expanding in northern states. Currently concentration is given in consolidating south zone states.
When he was asked whether he wanted to join Shinde’s organisation, Mohan said AICDF is not against AIOCD. “They have started business through organisation by starting limited companies that we are opposing. Out traders will not compromise their rights.”
When V P Elango, the Tamil Nadu chief of AICDF, was contacted for his response, he said only a few distributors have got membership with his organisation, and the chemists and druggists are with the opposite trade body. But he maintained that he would not join TNCDA, affiliate of AIOCD.