Chennai, March 1 (BPNS)

The food safety commissioner of Tamil Nadu has warned the package drinking water companies in the state to provide safe drinking water to consumers. He said that of the 1640 packaged drinking water companies in the state, only a third is suitable for safe drinking. The authorities also warned that nearly a quarter of the water is of poor quality.

According to sources in the department of food and safety commissioner, several complaints were received against the packaged drinking water companies. Following the complaints, samples of 1640 samples from various drinking water companies were collected and sent for testing.

The report showed that of this 694 samples tested were of high quality, 527 were unsafe for drinking while 419 were of poor quality.

The department of food safety has filed 173 cases in court and a fine of Rs 39.69 lakh was imposed on the packaged drinking water companies and their sales points.

The food safety commissioner of Tamil Nadu directed the packaged drinking water manufacturing companies to get a proper license from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and mandatory that all the guidelines are followed under the Food Safety Act.

The department also directed the companies to wash the 20-litre water cans every time before they are filled with water and also stated that the name of the manufacturer and the quality needs to be displayed on the water cans.

A senior officer with the Food and safety department while speaking to BPNS said, “It was shocking to note that around one-third of the packaged drinking water that is in use in the state are either of poor quality or unsafe. We will take stringent action against the companies that failed to maintain the minimum standards set by the BIS. There will be periodical inspections and random checks on these packaged drinking water companies.”