The Hindu 31.12.2010
Take action against seller of adulterated tea, Mayor directs Health Officer
| Monthly ordinary meeting of the Corporation Council held |
VELLORE: Mayor P. Karthikeyan has urged Corporation Health Officer V. Govindan to take action by lodging a police complaint against the seller of adulterated tea dust seized from a house in Kasba following a surprise raid on Wednesday.
He was presiding over the monthly ordinary meeting of the Corporation Council held at the meeting hall in the new Corporation building here on Thursday.
K. Srinivasa Gandhi (Congress), 25th ward councillor, asked why no action was taken against the seller of the adulterated tea dust seized by the health authorities in Kasba on Wednesday. He sought an explanation about a news report, which appeared in a Tamil daily that the health officer did not take any action following pressure from the Deputy Mayor.
Dr. Govindan said that cases filed in February against persons selling adulterated tea dust were pending in the court. G.G. Ravi (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), 10th ward councillor, wanted to know why no action was taken under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act against the person who had stocked adulterated tea dust for sale in the Kasba .
The adulterated tea dust, which was seized by the authorities, was destroyed and not handed over to the revenue authorities for further action, he said.
The health officer said that under the Tamil Nadu Public Health Act 1939 and the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act 1954, the Corporation health authorities are empowered to seize and destroy food, food items and ingredients which were found unfit for human consumption.
Referring to the demand for initiating legal action against the sellers of adulterated tea dust, he said that he had to get permission from the Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine before filing a police complaint. “We will take legal action after getting permission from the Director if all of you cooperate”, he said.
The Mayor asked the Health Officer to take action as demanded by the councillors.
R. Arunachalam (Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), 30th ward councillor, said that the drinking water pipelines in Sadhukkara Madam Street, Narasingaswamy Madam Street and Chinnathambi Street had been damaged while digging the road for laying trenches for the underground drainage scheme (UGS), resulting in leaking of water and disruption in water supply, while there was contamination of drinking water with sewage water in 10 streets as a result of such damage to pipelines. However, no action had been taken to plug the leaks so far, he said.
He urged the Corporation to engage private plumbers to plug the leaks, prevent water contamination and ensure proper distribution of drinking water supply. The Mayor assured the councillor that he would take action to plug the leakage.
Rani (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), 33rd ward councillor, who lives on Kasthamettu Street located in the 35th ward, said that there were a lot of potholes on the street on account of the incomplete work on the UGS resulting in untold hardships to the road-users, and accidents too. She wanted the road to be levelled. Mr. Srinivasa Gandhi said that physically challenged persons find it difficult to walk on Reddiappa Mudali Street, which had been damaged because of the digging of trenches and the haphazard closure and the failure of the UGS authorities to level the street. He wanted the street to be repaired.
The Mayor said that he had asked the UGS authorities to level the damaged roads. The contractors had agreed to do so before January 10, he said.
Damodaran (DMK) said that though tenders had been awarded for repairing the Registrar Periyasamy Street and New Sankaranpalayam Road for Rs.13 lakh and Rs.19 lakh respectively, the work was not being executed properly.
He wanted the Mayor to ensure that roads were laid properly. The Mayor directed the Municipal Engineer to see that the roads were laid properly.
Mr. Srinivasa Gandhi, P.P. Jayaprakash (Cong.) and Hassain (DMK) regretted that names of the councillors were not included in the invitation printed for the function in which the Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin inaugurated the new Corporation building recently. They wanted the Corporation to include the names of the councillors in the inauguration plaque to be fixed in the Corporation building. A.M. Ramalingam (DMK) wanted the new building to be named former Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai.
