MADURAI: The merchant community in Madurai has termed the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 as detrimental to the interests of farmers and self-help groups in its present form and urged the Centre to postpone the enforcement of the Act.
Hoisting the tricolour to mark the Republic Day, S P Jeyapragasam, president of the Madurai-based Tamil Nadu Foodgrain Merchants' Association said the Act that has come into force from September last year would curtail farmers' opportunity to sell products at remunerative prices. "According to the Act, farmers who grow the food products and traders are liable for action for deficiency in the products. The deficiency in quality of agro products due to changes in weather should also be taken into account,'' he said.
Jeyapragasam noted that the government was selling liquor while admitting that consuming liquor was injurious to health. "Similarly, cigarette and beedi packets are sold with the warning that smoking is injurious to health. The government that permits sale of these injurious products tends to penalise heavily traders if the product they sell is substandard without taking into account the quality change due to weather. It is not fair on the part of government,'' he said.
He also noted that the products made by SHG members cannot be brought under the purview of the act. "They will be forced to stop production," he said, urging that the government should postpone enforcement of the Act by at least three years to hear grievances of farmers and traders.
The association demanded that food testing laboratories be established in all districts before the Act is implemented.
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