The New Indian Express 21.09.2010
Cholera fear: Quality check on water pouches
CUTTACK: With cholera spreading across several districts of the State, the civic administration in the Millennium City has swung into action to check proliferation of non-certified and standardised drinking water pouches.The health wing of Cuttack Municipal Corporation from today started a drive to raid shops, hotels and restaurants to check the sale of water pouches without the mandatory Bureau of Indian Standards’ (BIS) ISI mark. A special team of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) today raided shops at Badambadi, Link Road, Jhanjiri Mangala, Medical road, etc, and seized about 1,000 water pouches. The raids and screenings will continue through the ensuing Durga Puja festival.
Health Officer Dr NC Raj said the move was to ensure that people did not fall prey to the water-borne diseases by consuming packaged water sourced from dubious manufacturers. The demand for packaged drinking water has been spiralling in the recent times. But not many are aware of the fact that the water they are consuming might have been packaged without undergoing any purification process by illegal manufacturers that have mushroomed across the State. Major suppliers to the city are manufacturers from the southern pockets like Berhampur and other coastal towns like Jagatsinghpur and Jajpur.
“With cholera being reported from the southern part of the State, we have to be vigilant and ensure that contaminated water does not creep into the city and lead to an outbreak. Besides, the ensuing Puja festivities pose the necessity for extra caution,’’ Dr Raj said.
The issue of sale of non-certified water pouches has been drawing concern for the last several years with the Orissa High Court also directing for action to curtail their proliferation. The Court in December 2007 had directed the Government to strictly implement the laws under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. The House Committee on Environment has also urged the Government to enact a law to regulate the manufacturing units.
In a Public Interest Litigation filed in the Orissa High Court in 2006, some Berhampur-based BIS certified manufacturers had raised the question of grant of licence to uncertified packaging units. They stated that a safety and quality compliant unit would involve an investment of `30-40 lakh. But just packaging plain water into pouches could be done at household level without any substantial investment. And with suspect water quality, the threat to public health was enormous.
