Food Adulteration In Maharashtra Becomes A Non Bailable Offense

According to a report by The Hindu, an amendment bill was passed by the state assembly of Maharashtra which now makes milk, food and drug adulteration cognisable and non-bailable. The state government in also working on getting laboratories to test milk samples according to Girish Bapat, Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) Minister. Currently, the samples are sent to the labs in Ghaziabad and Hyderabad and it takes six months to get the results.

Food Adulteration Is Non Bailable

In a debate with Congress Legislator, Ashok Jagtap, Mr. Bapat said that a scheme called grahak panchayat was initiated to test milk samples for adulteration which did not succeed reports The Hindu. “In the meantime, we thought of amending the existing laws to make adulteration a crime which invites life imprisonment,” he said. “The practice is rampant in bigger cities such as Mumbai. In October, we seized 19,250 litres of adulterated milk in Malad. It will ensure that those involved in adulteration will not get bail.”

He also added that, “Thousands of people are being killed in the State and country because of adulteration. Since there are loopholes in the existing laws, culprits walk free. An offender commits a crime in the morning, but gets bail by the evening. They will now fear the amended law.”