KMC raids unauthorised drinking water units across city

Kolkata: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Deputy Mayor Atin Ghosh raided several unauthorised packaged drinking water distribution units across the city on Thursday. The drive to crack down on the selling of unauthorised packaged drinking water started from Borough II (near Star Theatre) and ended at Strand Road.

During the inspection, the KMC officials found that a few packaged drinking water distribution units were only having suppliers' licence and not manufacturers' licence. Despite that, the units were filtering water and selling the same in the market.

"We have found that these (Aquarays, Sud Neer Udyog and Vaishno Pure Water Suppliers) packaged drinking water distribution units are running their business without abiding by the norms of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). We have collected samples of 20 litre bottle and one litre bottle from these units and will check its quality," said Ghosh.

BIS, the national standards body, works under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

Minutes after the KMC officials reached Vaishno Pure Water Suppliers premises, the workers fled from scene. The owner of the unit was not present at the time.

The Deputy Mayor reiterated that strict action will be taken against the packaged drinking water units, if the quality of water is found to be below standard.

The raid was conducted a week after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged people to take "precautionary measures" to save water, as scarcity of drinking water has become a major issue across the world.