DINAKARAN NEWS

DINAKARAN NEWS

DINAKARAN NEWS

SC must act against gutka manufacturers

The Goa FDA will launch a State-wide drive to ensure strict implementation of the ban on manufacture and sale of gutka, paan masala and other tobacco products. 

Goa to file plea in apex court seeking strict implementation of the ban in other States

Goa is set to file a plea in Supreme Court seeking directions to other States to implement ban on manufacture of tobacco products.

Goa is the only State where two instruments of ban notification are available to authorities to tackle the menace of tobacco consumption.

Salim Veljee, director of Foods and Drugs Administration (FDA), Goa, told The Hindu on Saturday that these products are predominantly manufactured in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.

“We will file a plea before Supreme Court to direct these states to implement the ban on manufacturing itself to tackle smuggling of the products from across the State borders,” he said.

He pointed out that as per the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, read with Regulation 2.3.4 of the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011, the apex court has asked all States and Union Territories to implement, what is actually banned as “manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of gutka or paan masala by whatever name called containing tobacco and nicotine as an ingredient and also includes chewing tobacco products like chaap tobacco, pure tobacco, Khaini, chaini, scented tobacco, flavoured tobacco, zarda, etc., packed in packets\ pouches\sachets \containers,etc., by whatever name called and other products marketed separately by whatever name called.”

Twin notifications

Mr. Veljee said following a recent notification in Goa, while only FDA officials can act under the Food Safety, as per the Goa Public Heath (Amendment) Act, 2005, other agencies including police, mamlatdars, and deputy collectors can also act to implement the ban. However, this ban is confined to tobacco products like gutka only.

He said with these multiple agencies in place, the FDA has decided to launch a State-wide drive to ensure strict implementation of the ban.

Mr. Veljee further pointed out that framers of the legislation have taken due care in the ban notification under the Food Safety and Standards Act(FSSA) of the practice adopted by manufacturers of gutka to distribute and sell the pan masala component (without tobacco) separately, along with the sachet of chewing tobacco.

Mr. Veljee said the tobacco products enter Goa through vegetable-sellers and other vendors coming from Maharashtra and Karnataka and have become a problem for enforcement agencies at all four border check posts in the State.

“With this double ban in place, now our message to all such vendors is very clear. Their mischief will not be entertained or allowed and all such plain tobacco/scented tobacco/chewing tobacco by whatever name called will also be covered under the food safety ban, which has been issued as a part of the Supreme Court directives of September 23, 2016 in the case of Civil Appeal No. 16308 of 2007,” he said. Next week will see a state-wide drive by the FDA to ensure strict implementation of ban.

FDA directs total ban on gutkha, pan masala

PANJIM: Directorate of Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) on Saturday issued more directions placing a complete ban on the manufacture, storage, sale or distribution of food products containing tobacco or nicotine like gutkha and pan masala in Goa.

The State now has two bans or prohibition tools to tackle violations under Goa Public Health (Amendment) Act, 2005 and Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. Earlier, the Commissioner of Food Safety under Goa Public Health (Amendment) Act, 2005 had prohibited the manufacture and sale of processed, flavoured, scented, chewing tobacco, packaged or unpackaged or sold as one or separate products. 

U.P. meat traders to seek relief from court

Want mosques to be excluded from the distance norm

The Allahabad High Court’s order directing the Uttar Pradesh government to issue new licences for meat shops and slaughterhouses and renew old ones has come as a “relief” for those involved in the meat business in the State.

Meat traders are now preparing to go to court to demand relaxation of norms in the Food Safety Act under which they are to be issued licences. They want mosques to be excluded from the list of religious places less than 50 metres of which meat shops are prohibited from functioning.

Apart from the clause of “minimum distance” of 50 metres, the FSA guidelines prevent meat shops from running within 100 metres of the main gate of religious places. The norms are as per clause 8 (1) of the Food Safety & Standard Administration India Act, 2011.

Meat traders say the specific clause is hindering them from getting their licences renewed. Their licences expired on March 31. Saleem Qureshi, the Bareilly district president of the All India Jamiatul Quresh (AIJQ), would soon file a petition in the Allahabad High Court making this demand.

Denied licence

As hundreds of meat traders across U.P. are facing the issue, the AIJQ would raise in court the predicament of Bareilly resident Sharif Qureshi, who despite completing all formalities, was denied licence for his meat shop as it was situated near the Ansariyan Masjid Zakhira Qila mosque.

Shakeel Quresh, UP vice-president of the All India Jamiatul Quresh, said “since most of the meat shops in U.P. are located in dense Muslim areas with mosques in proximity,” meat traders are being denied licences for this reason. “Our religion does not prohibit us from selling meat near mosques or eating it there.

Many shops are located in mosques complexes. We will fully abide by the sanctity of other religious sites like temples, churches, gurudwaras but only demand a relaxation for mosques,” Mr. Shakeel Qureshi told The Hindu.

He further said that meat shops had also obtained no objection letters from the trustees of the mosques. “The High Court order is a relief measure for us. But we would be filing a separate petition praying for the exclusion of mosques from the prohibited places,” he said.

Ramzan approaching

The AIJQ, a representative body of the Qureshis, the Muslim community traditionally associated with the meat trade, also hopes that State officials will start issuing licences to slaughterhouses and meat shops soon as the Muslim holy month of Ramzan is approaching.

“The demand will shoot up and it could even lead to a law and order problem,” Mr. Shakeel Qureshi said.

He also expressed disappointment with the “hotchpotch” functioning of local bodies in U.P. and said it was posing a hurdle for meat traders to obtain licences. “The CM had promised us that he would get our licences done soon but the officials have hardly cared. They push us from one door to another. So far, not a single licence has been issued for meat shops in Lucknow. There have been only ten in Kanpur, and only 50 out of 550 in Bareilly,” Mr. Shakeel Qureshi said.

He added that the officials rejected meat sellers requesting licences citing the pending case in the court, whereas the case had no bearing on the issuance of licences if meat traders followed norms.

AIJQ national president Siraj Qureshi is also expected to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath to put forward the inconveniences and livelihood crisis faced by the State’s meat traders since March.

The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on Friday directed the State government to start issuing fresh licences and no-objection certificates (NOC) to meat traders while also renewing their old licences.

The court also rejected the government’s contention that slaughterhouses were not the responsibility of the State and said that the responsibility of constructing slaughter houses was that of the local municipal corporations.

Health department cracks down on rotten food

LUDHIANA: Officials of the health department collected food samples from different parts of the city on Friday, under guidance from the civil surgeon. Samples of milk, sweetmeats like barfi, cold drinks and ice cream were collected from different spots.

Civil surgeon Dr Rajiv Bhalla said, "Samples have been collected from many places.

Teams have been doing sampling in the past two days. Five samples of milk have been a taken. We have also checked on individual sellers of milk and taken samples."

Ice cream and cold drink samples were taken from the Haibowal area of the city. From Sri Ram Sweets at Dashmesh Nagar, samples of barfi were taken.

Food safety officer Ravinder Garg collected the samples. He said all samples were sent for testing and if any were found failing to meet set standards, action would be taken against shops or individuals from which these were taken.

Two days ago, the health department took samples from Pappu Canteen of Ludhiana district court complex.

Food was found stored in a washroom and rotten fruit and vegetables were found in stock. The district bar association has closed the canteen and filed a complaint with the civil surgeon.

Bhalla said instructions have gone out about the need for special vigilance in the summer as food gets spoiled faster in the heat. He said anyone who finds that a food product sold to him is stale can approach the health department with a complaint.

Petition in NGT against sale of unpackaged drinking water

NAGPUR: Based on TOI's report on unpackaged drinking water being sold in chilled cans, a petition has been filed in the Pune bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) seeking closure of all units across the state that are selling water in chilled jars and cans, and posing serious threat to human health.On September 6, 2016, TOI after visiting six such units in the city, had exposed the unhygienic conditions in which the units were operating. They also did not have the mandatory licenses from Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).Two petitioners — Vijaysinh Dubbal and Dattatraya Bharne — are from Pune while the third — Santosh Sinha — is from Nagpur. They have moved the case through counsels Asim Sarode and Smita Sarode Singalkar The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), state government, ministry of health and family welfare, commissioner of Food and Drug Authority (FDA), commissioners of Nagpur and Pune Municipal Corporations, water sanitation department and regional director of Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) have been made the respondents. 

The matter is expected to come up for hearing next week.Extensively quoting TOI's report, the petition states that the water sold in unpackaged and unsealed chilled jars and cans is not potable and hazardous to health. Though the unit owners claim that the water is RO and UV treated, no regular monitoring is being done."The water is drawn from unhygienic sources like bore-well and can contain various impurities and fungal growth. No permission is taken from CGWA for withdrawing groundwater," the petitioners said.The petitioners have also pointed out that there are no set of rules for units supplying unpackaged drinking water, most of which are operating in unhygienic conditions.