Water pouches sold without print line in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, June 8: The district administration has come up with measures to put a check on sale of water pouches without adhering to the prescribed safety norms.

Official sources said adequate measures were being taken to put a check on such malpractice that might adversely affect the public health and environment. “We have formed a joint team consisting of officials of the district administration, the chief district medical officer and the pollution control board to put a check on the illegal manufacturing units,” said sub-collector J.P. Das.

Das said raids would also be conducted on shops selling water pouches without the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification and the manufacturing date. Moreover, the issue of polythene less than 40 microns would also be checked to ensure that there is no environment pollution.

Last month, the food and civil supplies department had destroyed around 3,000 water pouches for such violations at Salepur.

Over one lakh water pouches are being sold everyday in Cuttack district. However, the manufacturers are selling the packaged drinking water without any manufacturing date printed on it.

“Many water pouches are being sold without any manufacturing date printed on it. Therefore, none can be sure that the water in the pouch is of good quality,” said Sanjay Moharana, 29, a resident of Mission Road. Moharana said water pouches of over 15 different brands were available in the market.

Such packaged drinking water is being manufactured in various areas of the state, including Jagatpur and Chowdwar in Cuttack and Mancheswar and other parts in Bhubaneswar.

“Two days ago, I purchased a water pouch and found dust in it. When I complained about it to the shop owner, he asked me to lodge a complaint with police as the product was manufactured by some other company,” said Narayan Sahu, 36, a resident of Kazi Bazar.

Usually the sale of such pouches registers a high during summer because of easy availability and low price. A pouch, containing 250ml water, is available at Re 1 while a trader purchases 100 water pouches for Rs 60 to Rs 70. Because of such high profit margin, many traders have resorted to sell the pouches without bothering for proper safety marks on the product.

The BIS certification, the ISI mark and a valid licence are mandatory for manufacturing and selling packaged drinking water, especially in pouches. Similarly, the pouch should also carry the name and address of the owner and the date of manufacture should also be printed on it.