Jammu, Aug 21 (UNI) Refuting the statements about shortage of medicines in the Valley, the Jammu and Kashmir Pharma Associates (JKPA) today said there was no scarcity of medicines in Kashmir.

''We are in constant touch with all the district presidents of pharma associations in Kashmir and the drug control department had also assured that there was no dearth of any medicine in the Valley,'' Rakesh Gupta, JKPA general secretary, said in a statement issued here.

''The statements of shortage are being mongered by few people in the Valley who were trying to promote regional divide and disturb communal harmony of the state,'' Mr Gupta said.

The association however, clarified that some urgent supplies of medicines were got air lifted to Kashmir and also medicines worth more than Rs 2 crore have been dispatched by road.

''The medicines worth Rs 3 crore were lying with the transport companies in the Valley that could not be lifted by the dealers due to the ongoing strike,'' the JKPA secretary added.

Meanwhile Mr Gupta said the association has appealed the Jammu Pharmaceutical Distributors Association to ask its wholesale members to keep their shops open from 0900 hrs to 1300 hrs till Jammu bandh.

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