Stale food seized in raids

Health hazard:Stale food seized from food outlets during a raid carried out in Kasaragod on Wednesday.

A raid conducted by the health wing of the municipality in select canteens and hotels here unearthed stale food.

The raids led by health supervisor K. Rajan in canteens attached to three leading hospitals and five other food outlets found stale food being served to customers, a pressnote issued her e said.

Officials, while issuing notices to the owners of the outlets, made it clear that they would intensify the raids in the coming days.

Pan masala seized

The Railway police confiscated 450 kg of pan masala from a train at the Alappuzha Railway station. According to officials, the banned product was recovered from sacks that had reached Alappuzha as parcel in the Kochuveli Express by 11.30 a.m. Around 2,700 kg of tobacco-related products have been seized from the railway station during a year, they said.

Decision on bar licence soon

The government will soon take a policy decision on the bar licence issue as 418 bars across the State have been remaining closed for two months, Minister for Excise and Ports K. Babu has said.

Intervening during the reply to a question in the House on Wednesday, the Minister said the sales in the Kerala State Beverages Corporation (Bevco) outlets had gone up after the bars that did not have quality standards were closed as per a Supreme Court directive.

Bevco earned additional revenue of Rs.200 crore during the period with an increase of seven lakh litres of liquor sale in May this year, compared to the corresponding period in 2013. Mr. Babu said the government’s policy was to introduce prohibition in a phased manner after creating awareness among the public.

Minister for Labour Shibu Baby John said only 503 of 6,670 workers employed in these 418 bars had been registered in the Abkari Welfare Board. Only the bars had been closed and the hotelsand restaurants attached to them were working. A decision on the rehabilitation of the employees of these bars would be announced after the policy decision was taken, he said.Food Safety

Mr. Sivakumar, in reply to another question, said the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India had extended the time for obtaining the licence till August 5 this year. Only 30,439 traders had taken the mandatory licence and 1,60,365 had registered.

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Bevco sales went up after closure of bars: Babu

Minister says Bevco earned Rs.200 crore more