RAWALPINDI: After resentment by traders, the City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) stopped its campaign against food adulteration and unhygienic outlets.

A senior official of the CDGR confirmed to Dawn that the resentment expressed by the traders had forced the local administration to halt the drive. He said after the start of the campaign, local PML-N leaders also approached the CDGR saying the move would create problems for the ruling party in the forthcoming local government elections.

When contacted, Assistant Commissioner Quratullain Malik, however, said the campaign had not been stopped but slowed down due to other administrative and revenue issues.

She said last week raids were conducted on the directives of the Punjab Food Authority and the teams would inspect the food outlets in coming days but not on a daily basis.

Former City District Nazim Raja Tariq Kiani said it was the duty of the CDGR and the district health department to inspect food outlets on a regularly basis to ensure the availability of hygienic food items to the citizens.

“After sealing a few outlets, the CDGR stopped the drive and left the people at the mercy of adulterators,” he said.

Under the law, he added, the health department and the CDGR are supposed to ensure the availability of clean food items in the markets and bazaars at reasonable rates. Despite eight years in the government, the ruling party has failed to end food adulteration, he added.

There is no mechanism for price checking as the chief minister ordered the establishment of only the 30-day Ramazan bazaars to get a cheap publicity. The health department collected food samples for the laboratory test in Lahore but never disclosed its reports as it is hand in gloves with the traders, he said.

When contacted, District Coordination Officer (DCO) Sajid Zafar Dall also said the campaign had been slow down. “We slowed down the campaign just to make new procedures to ensure the provision of hygienic food at the outlets.”

He said the anti-food adulteration campaign was a regular feature and the inspectors were doing their job on a regular basis and collecting food samples and dispatching them to Lahore for laboratory tests.

The DCO said there was no political interference as the provincial government itself had directed to launch the drive. He said after making amendments to the food law, strict measures would be taken against those who failed to adopt hygienic conditions in their outlets.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2015

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