The Tamil Nadu Chemists and Druggists Association (TNCDA), the state traders’ body affiliated to All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists, will increase its membership strength in another one year by including all the retailers in the state, according to S. Ramachandran, the newly elected president of TNCDA.

He was elected to the post of TNCDA president in the annual general body meeting held in Salem a few days ago. The new office-bearers committee comprises nine elected members. Ramachandran belongs to Mannargudi district in south Tamil Nadu.

K.K. Selvan from Salem and K. Gopiratnam from Nakakkal have been elected as secretary and treasurer respectively. The organisation has four vice presidents and two joint secretaries. The previous secretary of the association, N. Anandan, has been given the charge of administrative secretary, with assignment of office work in Chennai. He said the first meeting of the elected office-bearers was held in Thanjore last week.

According to the new president, even though there are more than 40,000 retail licensees in Tamil Nadu, only 18,000 of them have membership with TNCDA. The statement of the president shows one fact that majority of the retail chemists in the state have no membership with any organisation. He also claimed that there is no second organisation in the state exclusively for retails chemists.

When asked about the presence of AICDF state branch, Ramachandran said it has the membership of a few wholesalers and very few retailers, and that too for name sake. AICDF belongs to only two districts, Chennai and Thanjore, and there is no scope for that organisation for growth in Tamil Nadu, he opined.

According to him, TNCDA plans to create district committees for each revenue district. The state has a total of 32 revenue districts. However, at present, not all the districts have separate state committees. Coimbatore and Nilgiris districts come under one committee. Similarly, both Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts have one administrative body of the organisation. These committees will be bifurcated, and separate committees will be in force soon, said the president.