Pharmaceutical companies suspended the supply of medicine to the hill district of Khagrachhari on Wednesday, protesting recent surge in incidents of extortion.
This is the first time that companies have been forced to temporarily stop medicine distribution in the district since the signing of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord in 1997. Retailers were afraid that people in eight upazilas of the district may face an acute shortage of medicine due to the suspension.
An official of Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited, seeking anonymity, said a group of local extortionists had been frequently demanding tolls from vehicles carrying medicine. This was reported to higher the authorities of the companies.
Consequently, the companies decided to temporarily cease the supply of medicine to the district. The suspension would not have any severe impacts, he added.
Local representatives of several pharmaceutical companies said the companies had stopped supplying medicine to the area with their own vehicles since Wednesday.
The owners of some local pharmacies said if the companies maintain the suspension on supply for a long period, the pharmacies will be forced to bring medicine in from Chittagong at a higher cost.
Secretary of the Medicine Traders Association Rupan Kanti Barua said medicine prices would increase if the traders have to bring medicines in at their own expense and a medicine crisis would be created. Five hundred retailers in the district would also suffer losses.
Belayet Hossain, ex-president of an organisation of representatives of pharmaceutical companies, said activists of a regional hill organisation often demand tolls from vehicles carrying drugs.
They extort money after halting the vehicles and often resort to snatching drugs if their request for a toll is refused.
Deputy Commissioner of the district Masud Karim said he is aware of the matter but that no complaints have been filed in this regard.
On July 29, a group of miscreants intercepted a vehicle carrying medicine in the Atharo Mile area on the Rangamati-Khagrachhari road and demanded a toll.
They beat the driver of the vehicle and stole some boxes of drugs. They later released the driver on the condition that he pays them a regular toll to continue supplying medicine in the area.
