Artificially-ripened mangoes destroyed during inspection

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 13

Two quintals of unnaturally ripened mangoes in the local fruit market were destroyed under the ‘Tandarust Punjab’ Mission here today. Continuing the drive against artificial ripening of fruits under the mission, a team of the district administration destroyed the unnaturally ripened mangoes at the fruit and vegetable market at Maqsoodan in the presence of officials.

Meanwhile, the team also collected four samples of fruits during the inspection. Three samples of mangoes were taken from the market during the inspection whereas one sample of banana was taken from the ripening chamber. These samples would be sent to Chandigarh for further analysis.

A special team constituted by the Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, Varinder Kumar Sharma, started the drive early in the morning.

Officials led by District Mandi Officer Varinder Khera, District Health Officer Dr Balwinder Singh, Horticulture Officer Bhajan Singh Saini, Naib Tehsildar Manohar Lal, Food Safety Officers Rashu Mahajan and Divya Bhagat, started the inspection of the vegetable market at Maqsoodan in the morning.

Detecting irregularities in the crates of mangoes that had arrived in the market, the officials immediately seized them. After ascertaining that the crates contained packets of hazardous calcium carbide, used for artificial ripening, the officials immediately ordered their destruction.

The team reiterated that the drive would continue in the coming days and stern action would be taken against traders involved in the practice of ripening fruits artificially using chemicals. The officials said the district administration would leave no stone unturned under the Tandarust Punjab mission to check the sale of adulterated food items in the district.

Paddy seedlings sown on an acre ploughed

Meanwhile, in a crackdown against farmers defying the government directive on paddy transplantation, the agriculture department on Wednesday ploughed paddy transplanted on one acre of land in Kania Kalan village, under the Tandarust Punjab mission - to save precious water.

Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma said action was taken by the agriculture department as the farmer, identified as Harjinder Singh of village Kania Kalan in Shahkot block of the district, had defied the orders of the government by planting the paddy before June 20. He said acting strictly, Agriculture Officer Harpal Singh and Assistant Agriculture Officer Mandeep Singh, ploughed the field, as per provisions of the Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, 2009 for transplanting paddy ahead of the official date, June 20.

Sharma said stern action would be taken against farmers who defied the orders of the state government and transplanted paddy before June 20. Chief Agriculture Officer Dr BS Cheena said the agriculture department was keeping a strict vigil over the entire situation and no farmer would be allowed to sow paddy before June 20.

Noise pollution

In yet another action initiated in the district to check noise pollution under the mission, a joint team of Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) and traffic police Jalandhar today conducted a special drive for checking the use of multi-tone horns/pressure horns on vehicles and the cracker sound emitting from the silencer of motorcycles.

A team comprising Assistant Environmental Engineer (AEE) Jatinder Kumar and Varun Kumar along with a team of police led by ASI Traffic Harpreet Singh checked around 30 vehicles and motor cycles at Nakodar Chowk. Two vehicles and Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle were challaned for the violation of noise pollution rules.

Promotion of compostable carry bags

As part of the mission, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) initiated a drive to encourage the management of shopping malls and people for using compostable carry bags approved by the Central Pollution Control Board.

A PPCB team led by assistant environmental engineer Sandeep Kumar and Satyajeet Singh Attri visited two prominent malls in the city - Big Bazar at Civil Lines and D-Mart at Guru Nanak Mission Chowk - for pursuing people to use compostable carry bags. The team informed the management and the staff that these environment-friendly bags could be instrumental in eliminating the environmental problems being created by plastic bags. They said the need of the hour was to ensure that only these bags are used by the people so that the hazard caused to the environment through the use of plastics could be checked.