Govt. unaware of the number of unlicensed units

By Divya Sreedharan

BANGALORE, OCT. 5. How safe is your drinking water? That is the question every Bangalorean should be asking now that dengue fever appears to be on the rise in the City.

The health authorities have warned citizens to ensure that their water containers are changed regularly and kept clean and hygienic. But what about the water quality itself? How much of the bottled and canned drinking water in most homes and offices, is of assured or certified quality?

The problem is that only 24 packaged drinking water manufacturers in the State have been certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). That's six up from the 18 certified in August.

But this total is not very remarkable considering the fact that September 29 was the end of the extra time for bottled water manufacturers to apply for this certification.

And curiously enough, no department -- either of the Centre or the State -- seems to know how many unauthorised and unlicensed manufacturers are in the packaged drinking water business.

For instance, no one, including the Industries and Commerce Department, the office of the Additional Director, Small Industries Service Institute, or the Karnataka Council for Technological Upgradation (KCTU) have statistics on this. In fact, when The Hindutried to collect this information, each of the afore-mentioned departments disclaimed all knowledge. The KCTU, eventually, stated that the BIS would probably have the information.

But the BIS Additional Director, Ms. R.Kalpana, stressed that gathering such data was not within its ambit. ``The BIS only knows about and acts on certified units. For instance, in Bangalore, it is up to the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) to enforce this certification and act against those who are unlicensed,'' she said.

In August, the BIS conducted a workshop with the BMP and licensed manufacturers to help generate awareness on the need for certification. ``But there has been no subsequent feedback from the BIS on the issue,'' Ms. Kalpana said.

The BMP Chief Health Officer, Dr. R.K.Kumaraswamy, however, maintained that no drinking water manufacturer had contacted him after the August workshop. ``If the BMP comes to know about unlicensed manufacturers, we can issue notices against them and remove their products from the market. But first, we need information on these manufacturers,'' he said.

Of the 24 units that have been BIS-certified so far, none have licences to sell ``packaged natural mineral water'' with the standard IS 13428:1998. Only the standard IS 14543:1998 for ``packaged drinking water'' has been given.

As per BIS standards, the drinking water must be packed in colourless, transparent containers. Opaque or white drums/cans or bottles should not be used.

On the dengue cases, Dr. Kumaraswamy stressed that any container of fresh water -- be it a plastic cup or a coconut shell -- could be a breeding ground for the ``aedes'' mosquito. ``Hence, people must be more careful of what they drink.'' He said that no new cases of dengue had been reported in the City.

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Section  : Southern States
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