The Majuli district administration in Assam has launched an investigation into allegations that yoga guru and businessman Ramdev’s Patanjali distributed expired products to people who were affected by floods in the state, the Hindustan Times reported on Wednesday.
Some packets of milk powder and juice that Patanjali had handed out to flood victims in Assam carried expiry dates of 2016, the English daily said, citing local media reports. At least 75 people have died and more than 71,000 have been affected by floods in the state since August 10.
“When we asked the company’s representative in Majuli, they admitted that there were some old products with them,” Majuli Deputy Commissioner Pallav Gopal Jha was quoted as saying. However, he added, the company’s representative had said that those products were not distributed to people affected by the floods.
The district administration has told Patanjali to either destroy or hand over the expired products. It also refuted local media reports about people falling ill after consuming Patanjali’s old products.
Patanjali denied distributing old products but said that it cannot always control the “logistics of transport and distribution”. The company also said it cannot be held responsible for the wrong-doings of people who are not its representatives. “Patanjali has helped the flood-affected in Assam purely on humanitarian grounds,” spokesperson SK Tijariwala was quoted as saying.
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