Bhopal:In the wake of the Chhindwara cough syrup tragedy, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Madhya Pradesh has submitted two major proposals worth a total of Rs 320 crore to the Central Government to strengthen the state's drug and food testing infrastructure. According to a report by the Free Press Journal, the FDA has sent a Rs 211 crore proposal to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) in New Delhi for the modernization of its drug testing laboratories and an additional Rs 109 crore proposal to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to upgrade food sample testing facilities across the state. The proposals come amid heightened scrutiny over drug quality surveillance following the recent cough syrup-linked deaths in Chhindwara, which have highlighted the urgent need for better-equipped testing infrastructure and stronger regulatory enforcement. Currently, the state FDA tests around 6,000 drug samples per year. With the proposed upgrade, the department aims to increase testing capacity to 20,000 samples annually, ensuring faster and more comprehensive monitoring of drug quality. The FDA has also sought funding from FSSAI to revamp all four food testing laboratories in Madhya Pradesh. At present, the state has only one functional food lab, while two others operate as NABL-accredited facilities, and a fourth lab in Gwalior remains non-functional. The proposal envisions upgrading all these existing labs and establishing a state-of-the-art, hi-tech food testing laboratory in Ujjain. Once completed, the state’s food testing capacity is expected to expand from 6,500 to 25,000 samples annually, significantly improving surveillance of food safety standards, theFree Press Journalreported. In a Cabinet meeting held on June 18, 2019, the state government approved the establishment of three drug testing laboratories in Indore, Jabalpur, and Gwalior. According to the FDA, the Indore laboratory is now fully functional, staffed with five drug analysts currently testing cough syrup samples.