With the view of cutting the roots of black markets in Tamil Nadu for the sale of Remdesivir, a COVID-19 drug, and to mitigate the grounds of exorbitant rates for the oxygen cylinders, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has on Saturday issued a warning that the people who are found to be involved in hoarding and black marketing of Remdesivir drug and fixing more price for oxygen cylinders will be booked under the Goondas Act in the state. 

As Tamil Nadu has been witnessing an exponential rise of the COVID-19 cases, the state has been steering through the unprecedented demands for Remdesivir and oxygen cylinders to treat the Covid affected patients. The need for these two components has surged faster in recent days with thousands of people thronging before the government centre in Chennai to buy Remdesivir vial and seeking oxygen cylinders to treat their loved ones. 

The demand has triggered the rise of black markets for Remdesivir where the drug is sold at higher prices. The government has deployed teams across the state to curb the black markets and the police had arrested dozens of people for hoarding the drug and selling it for a higher price. The sale of oxygen cylinders at an exorbitant price by using the demand had also irked and shocked the people amid the dearth of oxygen supply at the hospitals. 

To mitigate the overcrowding, the government has installed supply centres in major cities across the state, and with the view of curbing the hoardings and black markets for Remdesivir, the government has strictly said that people who found to be involved in such acts will be booked under Goondas act. 

Chief Minister MK Stalin has on Saturday issued a warning for such people. According to reports, the Chief Minister's direction to the police comes in the wake of the arrest of a number of persons for allegedly selling Remdesivir vials in the black market at inflated prices amid a surge in demand for the life-saving oxygen. 

The Chief Minister further said that while the public has accepted the bitter pill of lockdown despite the curbs affecting their livelihood and have extended cooperation to save lives, at the same time, some anti-social elements were hoarding the drug and selling in it the black market. He added that complaints are being received that at some places oxygen cylinders are being sold at high rates. 

By citing that indulging in such acts during a pandemic is a severe crime, MK Stalin said that he has directed the police department to take stringent action under the Goondas Act against those who hoard Remdesivir and sell oxygen cylinders at an inflated price.