Albert Ekka Chowk kiosks in Ranchi rustle up fast food on Sunday.
Revellers, watch what you eat and where. No, this is no weight policing, but genuine concern for your health during Durga Puja.
While the food safety authorities have directed sampling of edible items and special raids against adulteration across the state, Jharkhand’s almost legendary manpower and resource crunch is threatening to mar all good intentions.
Following instructions from state food controller Praveen Chandra, a two-member team — comprising Ranchi and Bokaro officers K.P. Singh and B.K. Sinha, respectively — began inspection from Dhanbad on Saturday. It also collected laddoo and mustard oil samples from two eateries near Bartand bus terminus in the coal capital, which will be forwarded for quality tests at Namkum-based food and drug laboratory on Monday.
However, barely into their first assignment, the officers sounded frustrated.
“Logistics is a big challenge. We came here on September 26, but could go for field inspection only yesterday after we managed a vehicle from the civil surgeon’s office. We made a requisition to the SDO’s office for people, which we haven’t received yet,” said one of the two officers. He added: “Ideally, logistics should be worked out at state and district levels before festive food is put under the scanner.”
The team will stay in Dhanbad till September 30, the day of Mahashasthi. From October 1 or Mahasaptami, a similar exercise will begin in capital Ranchi.
Jharkhand has only nine food safety officers instead of 24, one for each district. The state government had a couple of years ago, burdened medical officers with the additional charge of food safety through a special notification to beat manpower crisis. Each officer was assigned a target of collecting minimum two samples every month while respective municipal bodies were expected to conduct independent raids against adulteration. Precious little happened after that.
Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) officials drew a blank when asked about their preparedness. “No, we are not doing anything to check adulteration since we don’t have anyone to engage in this work,” said RMC’s health officer Ajay Kumar Manjhi.
Citing his own limitations, Ranchi civil surgeon Gopal Srivastava said he had three food safety officers under him who held dual or triple charges of other districts too. “People should be extra careful in choosing what they eat during Puja. It is difficult to cover the whole city, given the large number of eateries,” he added.
State food controller Chandra conceded the problems too. “But, we are doing our best. Focus is on milk, sweets, fruits and oil, which will be collected at random.” He maintained that the guilty would be punished with hefty fines under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 (updated in 2012).
How can festive food safety be ensured with skeletal staff?
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