Chandigarh, June 22
Revealing an astonishing case, Punjab Health Minister, Romesh Chander Dogra stated in the Punjab Assembly today that a raiding party took a sample of “petrol” to check adulteration. However, the sample of “diesel” instead of petrol was sent to the laboratory concerned for examining its contents by the raiding party. The laboratory concerned gave the report that the “ sample of petrol is okay”.

What the minister perhaps wanted to tell the House was that the grip of corruption over various institutions had become so strong that one could “manage” any report from laboratories. While everyone was astonished the Deputy Speaker, Birdevinder Singh asked the minister what action was taken in this connection by him or by the government.

Mr Birdevinder Singh’s query put the minister in a quandary as he (minister) was not aware as to what action was taken against the laboratory. Mr Dogra told the Deputy Speaker that he had shared this information with the House in routine. However, the Deputy Speaker asked the minister to inform the follow-up action taken in this case to the House next time.

The “sample” story came in the House at the time of discussion on an important resolution moved by Mr Raj Kumar Gupta, MLA, seeking effective steps to control the growing incidence of food adulteration. The House adopted the resolution unanimously after debating the issue for over two hours.

Initiating the discussion, Mr Manpreet Singh Badal revealed another stunning information that the Punjab was among the states having the maximum toxicity per square kilometer. “The pesticide load per square kilometer is maximum in Punjab”, he said. A recent study conducted in Haryana had revealed that adulteration in milk had gone up from the 31 per cent to 50 per cent. In the high-brand bottled beverages, it had been found up to 47 per cent, he asserted.

Coming to food adulteration, Mr Badal said synthetic milk made from Urea, liquid detergent, sugar, vegetable oil etc was a reality now in many parts of the country. Though food-grade colours were available in market, these were costly. Cheap and non-permissible dyes and colours were instead used to make “masalas” attractive.

He urged the government to engage the Indian Council of Agricultural Research to study the toxicity and adulteration level and to suggest remedial steps.

Other speakers such as Mr Hans Raj Joshan, Rana K. P. Singh, Mr Sunil Jakhar, Mr Guljar Singh Ranike, Mr Balbir Singh Bath, Mr Sukhdarshan Singh Marar and Mr Sukhpal Singh also talked about the growing menace of sprays on green vegetables etc. They expressed concern over the deterioration in the drinking water quality owing to the pollution of various rivers and water channels.