Punjab orders raids to check synthetic milk product

Chandigarh, Oct 31 (UNI) Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Lakshmi Kanta Chawla has instructed all the civil surgeons to conduct state-wide raids on sweets shops to check supply and usage of synthetic milk and Khoya from adjoining states in preparation of sweets, specially during the festival season.

The minister said that instructions have been faxed to all the civil surgeons and stressed that the focus of raids should be on wholesalers to net big sharks to curb the hazardous practices of selling adulterated Khoya and milk products for higher profit.

SSP's of all the districts have been separately directed to provide adequate security to the raiding teams, as there was an incident of attack on the raiding party in district Mansa recently.

Taking a strict view of attack on raiding party, SSP Mansa has been issued instructions to register criminal case against the culprits and ensure their arrest and immediate filling of a charge sheet to maintain the credibility of the government system.

The Minister said that she had impressed upon the Chief Minister Punjab the need to strengthen various laws to check adulteration of food products.

She said that, strict action would be initiated against all those officials/officers found colluding with the culprits and this would be recorded in their service records.

Meanwhile, in a raid conducted by the civil surgeon Ludhiana, 7 quintals of adulterated synthetic khoya was confiscated which was to be supplied to the small sweet shopkeepers.

The owner of Goyal Sweet Supplier and company Ludhiana was arrested and had been put behind the bars, she added.

Meanwhile, according to Punjab health department sources here, milk products being brought from Uttar Pardesh, Bihar and Rajasthan would be checked and shopkeepers in Punjab have been told to use only approved items for making sweetmeats.

Milk coming from neighbouring states would be checked at railway stations and at various check-points under a state-level compaign launched to check the menace of adulterated milk, ghee, khoya and paneer, specially in view of the festive season, they said.

All Civil Surgeons have also been instructed to issue written instructions to all sweet shop owners to inform about any consignment of milk products being brought from other states and use it only after getting a ''clean chit'' from the health department, the sources said.

UNI