The Union chemicals minister Ramvilas Paswan's ambitious Jan Aushadhi project to set up generic drug stores in each district of the country has come to a halt, at least for some time, as the ministry has decided to go slow on the project till the elections to avoid the wrath of the Election Commission. No new stores will be opened till the elections. However, the government will run the existing stores.

Sources in the chemicals ministry said that even though there are several proposals from different state governments including Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, etc to open Jan Aushadhi stores in their respective states, no new stores will be opened till the entire election process is over. With several Union ministers including home minister P Chidambaram coming under the Election Commission's radar for their alleged violation of election code of conduct, the chemicals ministry wanted to avoid such a situation for Paswan.

Paswan has been opening Jan Aushadhi stores in different states with much fanfare till the general elections were announced by the Election Commission last month. The Jan Aushadhi projeect, aimed to make quality medicines available at affordable prices to the poorer sections of society, has been reportedly getting good response from the common people.

After some initial hiccups, the government launched the project on November 25 last year when it opened a Jan Aushadhi store at Amritsar in Punjab. The second store was launched at Shastri Bhawan in Delhi on February 2 while the third store was launched in Gurgaon on February 4. Stores were also opened in Mohali and Panchkula on February 11. The government's target till March 31 was to open around 40 such stores and to reach 100 in a year.

Sources said that several other states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Maharashtra, UP, Assam and Chattisgarh have also shown keen interest in the project and have approached the nodal agency IDPL to open the stores with a proposal to provide the required space in major government hospitals.

At a time when the prices of medicines are increasingly becoming out of the reach of poorer sections of the society, the Jan Aushadhi stores are expected to prove to be a boon to them as by establishing these generic stores in each district, preferably in the premises of the district hospitals, the government wanted to ensure affordable medicines to the poor people. Once implemented according to the prices suggested by the government, the treatment cost is to come down drastically, as much as 93 per cent in some categories.