The Drug Control Department has initiated punitive action against 16 pharmaceutical firms for manufacturing substandard drugs and violating various other sections of the Drug and Cosmetics Act of 1945. The samples of Becosules capsules, manufactured by Omni Bio-tech Drugs of Pune, for instance, were found to be of substandard quality as these do not measure up to their claims on several vital ingredients like thiamine mono-nitrate and riboflavin, following laboratory tests.