Food regulator FSSAI is examining possibility of holding municipal authorities, state water supply boards accountable for the quality of water they supply
About 32% of India’s households have access to treated tap water (supplied through pipelines) and around 11.5% households get untreated water, according to the 2011 Census.
New Delhi: Having exercised its will over private companies, both domestic and multinational, India’s food quality regulator has now set its eyes on regulating water utilities controlled by the government.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is examining the possibility of holding municipal authorities and other agencies such as state water supply boards accountable for the quality of water they supply.
“The Central Consumer Protection Council (an apex body that advises the government on the consumer-related issues) has expressed concern over the quality of drinking water supplied through the pipeline and has recommended mandatory standards for drinking water, irrespective of its source,” said Pawan Kumar Agarwal, chief executive officer at FSSAI.
The regulator is yet to take a call on how to bring water supplied by municipal authorities and other government authorities such as Delhi Jal Board under its purview. The Central Consumer Protection Council, in its recommendation, said FSSAI should formulate standards for water through the pipeline and should monitor quality.
“We’ll examine the recommendation and the complexities,” said Agarwal. At present, FSSAI only has standards for packaged drinking water.
Just about 32% of India’s households have access to treated tap water (supplied through pipelines) and around 11.5% households get untreated water, according to the 2011 Census.
About 62% of households living in urban areas, which constitute 31.16% of India’s total population, have access to treated tap water (mainly supplied by municipal corporations and other government agencies).
While Agarwal declined to divulge details, the regulator may follow the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) on drinking water quality to protect public health. The WHO guidelines, accepted worldwide, prescribe development and implementation of risk management strategies to ensure the safety of drinking-water supplies through control of hazardous constituents in water.
The safety and quality of drinking water supplied by Delhi Jal Board has been questioned. In April, Union consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan said drinking water supplied by Delhi Jal Board was not safe for consumption.
Residents of New Delhi, the national capital city, do not think they can drink water supplied by Delhi Jal Board.
“Dirty water is a regular feature and we have to reach out to the authorities. We have to purchase purifying systems because the water is not fit for drinking. If it was brought under the food standard authorities, it would benefit us and would also ensure that the municipal authorities are brought under the scanner,” said Dashrath Sahu, a resident of Badarpur in Delhi, who works as an office clerk.
Photographer and communications professional Love Verma, a resident of south Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar, said: “Drinking? I even doubt if this water is okay for bathing. In rainy season, the piped water gets mixed with sewage. We use a purifier for drinking water. Even the bottled water that we get in the market, I have doubts if those are safe for consumption,” said Verma.
“I am not aware of anything that FSSAI may be doing. We already follow required standards to provide safe water,” said R.S. Tyagi, member (water supply), Delhi Jal Board. Its chief executive officer Keshav Chandra could not reached for comments before the time of going to press.
India’s water purifier market was estimated to exceedRs.7,000 crore or about 15 million units, in 2015, according to a 2012-study by the industry body Associated Chambers of Commerce of India.
From April onwards, FSSAI has been tough on companies selling drinking water in packaged form. Of the total 5,842 registered water packaging units in India, said FSSAI, 1,495 have both a licence from FSSAI and certificate from the Bureau of Indian Standards (the national standards body), while the remaining 4,347 units only have BIS certification.
FSSAI has asked all drinking water packaging units to procure a licence from FSSAI to continue operations.
“No person shall manufacture, sell or exhibit for sale, Natural Mineral Water and Packaged Drinking water, except under the BIS Standard Mark,” according to the FSSAI regulation.
In May, Mint reported the food regulator’s desire to bringplaces of worship under its ambit to ensure safety of food items served by temples.
Meanwhile, the Food Safety and Standards Act is undergoing amendments. “It will take time to finalize a holistic amendment. We expect to have a consolidated view based on recommendations and required legislations, may be in another six months,” said Agarwal.
The Act, after amendment, will include better “co-ordination mechanism amongst all stake holders, simplified standard-setting mechanism among other things”, added the FSSAI CEO.
FSSAI is also allowing imports of special food items meant for children with “Inborn errors of Metabolism”. These food items are manufactured by only a few companies such as Swiss packaged food company Nestle SA, American healthcare company Abbott Laboratories and French dairy firm Danone SA.
“Treatment of these metabolic disorders requires early intervention including dietary control. In view of the seriousness of the issue, FSSAI is taking expedient actions to provide a unique platform for parents to find timely medical support and treatment. We’ll engage leading hospitals like All India Institute of Medical Science and have asked these companies to offer these food products at a subsidized price,” said Agarwal. Together, the companies will offer a subsidy of Rs.5 crore a year for these food items. However, the government has no plan to bring these food items under its own subsidy schemes.
India’s food quality regulator is celebrating its 10th anniversary. “We have taken a 10-point agenda to ensure safe food across the country. We need to educate consumers, and the ones involved in production of food. We need to ensure safety at the point of manufacturing. We need to align our efforts to ensure safe food for our citizens,” said Agarwal. The regulator, said Agarwal, exists because there are food companies who are doing business. “It can’t act adversarial,” he added.
FSSAI was in the limelight last year for cracking down on Nestle India Ltd after the company’s popular Maggi noodles were suspected to contain excess lead. The food safety agency ordered a ban on the noodles in June 2015, but the Bombay high court lifted the ban in August after the product cleared court-mandated lab tests.
Pretika Khanna contributed to this story.
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