Dropsy alert

There is nothing like a good conspiracy theory to help the authorities evade their responsibilities. Right now, shamed by the fact that 4...

There is nothing like a good conspiracy theory to help the authorities evade their responsibilities. Right now, shamed by the fact that 46 people have died of dropsy and thousands are suffering from the disease, the chief minister of Delhi and his minister of health are understandably anxious to shrug off blame for the outbreak.

Union Home Minister L.K. Advani seems sympathetic to their plight and has agreed to bring the CBI into the picture so that, among other inquiries, it could establish whether the large-scale adulteration in edible oils that has surfaced in the Capital and its environs is merely a case of unscrupulous traders and middlemen out to make a fast buck or whether there is a 8220;deeper conspiracy8221; involved.

Call in the CBI by all means. Given the fact that the dropsy epidemic has now assumed national dimensions, a probe by a central investigating agency is in order. The edible oil scam is getting more serious by the day. It now transpires that not only was the loose mustard oil sold inpoorer localities found adulterated, well-known brands of vanaspati were found similarly contaminated.

But there is no getting away from the fact that if the government8217;s regulatory and surveillance mechanisms were working in the first place, such large-scale attempts to adulterate the cooking medium of the ordinary citizen, for whatever reason, would have been foiled. Clearly the adulterators were emboldened by the very apathy of the authorities and presumed that they could get away with their cynical and dastardly acts of mass poisoning.

It is for this reasonal one that the proposed CBI inquiry should not divert public attention from the Delhi government8217;s own involvement. It must be made to own up to its carelessness and pusillanimity. The fact that it plainly failed to discharge its role as the appointed protector and guardian of the people must be taken due note of by the Central government and the people.

The Centre has also announced that it will not permit the retail marketing of loose edibleoil and the Essential Commodities Act is to be modified to ensure that only packed oil reaches the consumer. But who will pay the packing costs? The consumer of course and the poorer they are, the heavier will be the burden.

It is indeed a pity that the government lacks the confidence to ensure the safety of loose edible oil. One way to tackle the problem in the long run is to make the functioning of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 PFA more effective. Prosecution in many cases of adulteration, including one involving an eatery in the heart of the Capital, are just languishing thanks to loopholes in this law. If this process could be made swifter and the punishment awarded exemplary, anti-social elements would be deterred.

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As things are, adulterators, even after they are prosecuted, make a quiet escape. They do this either by appointing a nominee to take the rap since Section 17 2 of the PFA allows them to do so, or by tampering with lab reports, or by claiming that the adulteratedproduce did not emanate from his/her establishment.

The dropsy disaster provides one more reason to plug the loopholes in the law and enhance its deterrence value. The faster this is done, the better.