Public health falling prey to fake beverages

LAHORE - Considerable increase in the mercury level has given a boost to the sale of soft drinks in the City, providing an opportunity to the manufacturers of spurious cold drinks to mint easy money at the cost of public health. According to a survey conducted by The Nation on Thursday, a number of illegal factories of spurious cold drinks are functioning in various parts of the City and supplying unhygienic drinks including fruit drinks, beverages and bottles of spurious mineral water in the market. However, City District Government Food Department officials claimed they were carrying out successful operation against the manufacturers of such drinks. The insiders of CDG said some serving and retired officials were sheltering owners of the factories manufacturing such harmful beverages in different parts of the City including Baghbanpura, Shadbagh, Misri Shah, Chah Miran, Band Road, Badam-ibagh, Sherakot, Ichra, Samanabad, Thokar Niaz Beg, Islampura, Kot Lakhpat, Green Town, Township and Chungi Amer Sidhu. The insider further disclosed a huge quantity of unhygienic cold drinks is prepared in the small towns and villages and supplied in the City in connivance with the police officials, deputed on the pickets set up at all the entry points of major intercity roads. They said some officials were getting their 'monthly share from the factories of unhygienic soft drinks, which fall in the jurisdiction of CDG. Some of them are running their own factories and are acting as a sleeping partner to earn extra money, they said, adding, such factories were never been checked or raided by the officials. They further said influential factory owners usually manage to escape from law due to their links with the politicians and high-ranking officials. However, the most alarming factor is that health hazardous cold drinks are supplied and sold at the school canteens and shops outside educational institutions, thus playing havoc with the health of future generation. Muhammad Suhail, an administrator of a private school in Shadbagh, said he complained to the authorities concerned about the vendors selling unhygienic cold drinks and beverages in front of his school but no one paid heed to it. District Officer Food Dr Masood said the department had already launched a crackdown against such factories. He said it was a continuous process that continued throughout the year especially before and during the summer. He said the department had confiscated over 10,000 packs of spurious beverages, juices, mineral water bottles and other soft drinks only in previous week and challaned a number of persons involved in this heinous crime including the owners of such factories. He said the department used to take samples of such beverages and other drinks and sent it to the CDG laboratory and registered cases against the accused after receiving the report. He said there are different kinds of spurious cold drinks being supplied by changing labels with branded beverages prepared by the licensed factories.