India

Ramdev’s Patanjali accused of giving expired food products for Assam flood relief

Guwahati: Patanjali Ayurved, the food and Ayurvedic products company set up by Yoga guru Ramdev, has been accused of distributing expired products to people affected by floods in Assam.

Baba Ramdev is a yoga guru known for his work in Ayurveda, business, politics, and agriculture. He founded the Patanjali Group of Institutions and has shown interest in political issues.

Patanjali Ayurved Limited is an Indian FMCG company. Manufacturing units and headquarters are located in the industrial area of Haridwar while the registered office is located at Delhi. The company manufactures mineral and herbal products. It also has manufacturing units in Nepal under the trademark Nepal Gramudhyog and imports majority of herbs in India from Himalayas of Nepal. According to CLSA and HSBC, Patanjali is the fastest growing FMCG company in India. It is valued at ₹30 billion (US$470 million) and some predict revenues of ₹5,000 crore (US$780 million) for the fiscal 2015–16. Patanjali declared its annual turnover of the year 2016-17 to be estimated ₹10,216 crore (US$1.6 billion). Ramdev Baba has stated in his interview with CNN-News18 that profit from Patanjali Products goes to charity.

Local TV channels showed people accusing Patanjali of handing out old milk powder and juice packets.

Some carried expiry dates of last year.

“When we asked the company’s representative in Majuli, they admitted there were some old products with them, but said those were not been distributed among people affected by the floods,” Majuli deputy commissioner Pallav Gopal Jha told Hindustan Times. The administration has launched an inquiry.

The company too denied distributing bad products, but said it cannot “always control the logistics of transport and distribution and are not responsible if someone other than our representatives indulged in some wrong doing”.

“We don’t send out date expired products from our warehouses. Patanjali has helped the flood-affected in Assam purely on humanitarian grounds,” said Patanjali spokesperson SK Tijariwala.

The district administration has asked the company representatives to either hand over or destroy the expired products.

Local media reports said several people fell sick after consuming Patanjali’s products, but the district administration denied it.

This is not the first time Patanjali, which is setting up a mega food park for Rs 1,300 crore in Assam, has been in controversy in Assam.

In November, an adult female elephant and its calf fell into an open pit at the under-construction food park in Balipara. While the calf was rescued, the wild elephant died.

In July this year, a woman fell severely sick in Nagaon district in central Assam after allegedly consuming expired products given out by an authorized Patanjali retailer.

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