Call to rectify anomalies in Food Safety Act of 2006
Shops across the State will down the shutters on October
3 in protest against the Centre’s recent decision to allow Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail and the anomalies in the
implementation of the Food Safety Act of 2006. The strike is being
jointly called by the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi and the
Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association (KHRA). Hotels and medical shops
will remain closed.
Samithi president T. Nasseruddin
said in a press conference here on Monday that FDI would result in
monopolisation that could wipe away small retail shops.
“Even
though the Chief Minister has said that the State would not allow FDI,
it is to be seen how effective this promise will be. Our demand is to
stop the implementation of FDI all over the country. Once 51 per cent
FDI is allowed, the rest 49 per cent share of that particular company
will be held by an Indian monopoly. This arrangement will allow them to
start business in any State that they want to,” Mr. Nasseruddin said.
The
samithi, he said, was dissatisfied with the implementation of the Food
Safety Act. He alleged that food safety officers had been harassing
hotel and eatery owners even though the licensing and implementation
date had been extended to February 2013.
“The duty of
the food safety officers now is to create awareness among shop owners
of the Act. But they are now resorting to unwanted raids and harassing
the hoteliers. The committees to decide the food standards and fine
amounts are yet to come into place. So such raids cannot be condoned,”
Mr. Nasseruddin said. The KHRA said the Act itself had many clauses that
were unfairly loaded against small-time shop owners. “We are not
against the Food Safety Act. But certain conditions laid down regarding
packaging of foods could negatively affect the small hotels which cook
traditional food items. This could lead to a kind of standardisation by
which most of our traditional food will disappear, leading to the
proliferation of packaged food items from multinationals,” said M. Abdul
Nazeer, Kozhikode district president of the KHRA.
Another
issue raised by the Samithi is that of shop rents. The periodic
increase in shop rents has affected the profits of the shop owners,
about 90 per cent of whom in Kerala conduct business out of rented
shops. The landlord-tenant Act needs to be reformed to stabilise shop
rents, it said.
Hotels and medical shops will also remain closed
‘Food safety officers harassing hotel owners’
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