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LAHORE, Aug 19: District Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood on Tuesday ordered analysis of mineral water on sale in the provincial metropolis at the PCSIR Laboratories and sealing of factories bottling sub-standard water.
The District Nazim issued the directive while presiding over a meeting held for considering reorganization of the City District Food Department for controlling the menace of food adulteration and bringing the culprits to the book.
He directed the Food Department officials to ensure enforcement of the law in respect of printing of the ingredients and dates of manufacture and expiry on the foodstuff packages.
He said that the Federal Government had prescribed life imprisonment for the food adulterators. The CDG would ensure implementation of the law by referring the cases of food adulterators to the superior courts.
A committee headed by Punjab Tourism Minister Mian Muhammad Aslam Iqbal was constituted to submit proposals for controlling the food adulteration menace effectively within a month. The proposals would be publicized for eliciting public opinion.
It was decided to get all the cooks and waiters serving in the restaurants and hotels of the provincial metropolis medically examined and send medical officers with the teams checking the quality of foodstuffs. It was also decided to check the sale of loose cooking oil and sugarcane juice and sub-standard ice cream in the provincial metropolis. District Nazim promised to inspect the CDG Food Laboratory regularly.
The participants in the meeting were informed that 12,000 samples of foodstuffs had been found sub-standard and adulterated out of 24,000 collected since the establishment of the District Government. As many as 84 cases had been registered against the food adulterators during July. Those booked for food adulteration included 33 sodawater bottlers, seven spice manufacturers and 30 agency holders of spurious soft drinks.
PESTICIDES AND FERTILIZER: The City District Government Agriculture Department got 15 cases registered against fertilizer and pesticide dealers for selling substandard and adulterated pesticides and fertilizer.
The District Agriculture Officers checked 195 fertilizer and pesticide factories and depots of 493 dealers during the past one year and collected samples for checking of the quality.
PARKING STANDS: The CDG Public Facilities Officer has challaned five Gulberg parking stands contractors for overcharging and sent the cases for trial by a magistrate.
The officer has cancelled the contracts of two parking stands for overcharging and failure to deposit the contract money with the CDG. Showcause notices for the cancellation of contracts on account of continuous overcharging have also been issued to two other parking stand contractors.
