The Hindu 31.12.2010
Take action against seller of adulterated tea, Mayor directs Health Officer
Special Correspondent
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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.