KMC, EB to initiate legal action against adulterated water, food manufacturers

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and the Enforcement Branch have joined hands to act tough and crack the whip on spurious manufacturers and dealers of packaged water in the city and the state.

"The KMC is empowered to take action under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Act 2006 against those dealing with adulterated water and food. However, there are some limitations of the FSSAI Act. So in a stride towards overcoming the limitations, the civic body will urge the EB to start criminal proceedings under Section 272 and 273 of IPC against those who compromise with the safety standards of food and water," Member Mayor-in-Council (Health) Atin Ghosh said after holding a meeting with Director General of EB Vijay Kumar and Deputy Commissioner (EB) Kolkata Police Debasis Sarkar along with other senior officials at the KMC headquarters on Wednesday.

The Chief Municipal Officer of Health (CMOH) on behalf of the KMC's food safety unit will now share the findings of all drives related to water and food safety with the EB and will urge the latter to take legal action against those producing packaged water without maintaining proper rules and regulations or indulging in misbranding.

According to Ghosh, apart from the BSI, trade license, fire license and other necessary certificates a manufacturing unit in the city or in the state needs to have a mandatory clearance certificate from the state Pollution Control Board.

"During our checks at production units of food or water, we didn't check whether they had certificates from the PCB as we were not aware of this," Ghosh said.

"This came up for discussion in the meeting and from now on, we will also take this as an integral part of our drive," he added.

It has been decided in the meeting that the KMC food safety officers and EB will be conducting safety drives jointly from now on.

"Wherever we will find any unhealthy activities associated with food and water on the part of any person, we will urge the EB to start criminal proceedings. This will involve sealing of illegal units, seizure of spurious items and legal action as per Section 272 and 273 of IPC that may entail six months imprisonment or a fine of Rs 1,000 or both," Ghosh reiterated.