Carbide Fruits: High Court for Vigorous Drive

HYDERABAD: A division Bench of the High Court told the Telangana and AP governments on Monday that it was the right time to take measures as well as conduct awareness campaigns vigorously to prevent usage of chemicals to ripen fruits in view of the mango season.

The Bench, comprising acting chief justice Dilip B Bhosale and justice P Naveen Rao, was dealing with a taken-up case based on news reports on usage of calcium carbide and other hazardous chemicals to ripen fruits artificially in both the states.

The Bench asked both the state authorities to intensify raids and checks on fruit markets and sellers and not to confine the action plans only on papers for implementation of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and the Food Safety (Prohibition and Restriction in Sale) Regulations 2011 which bans the persons from selling fruits ripened by using chemicals.