If crackers add to the air and noise pollution during Diwali, the largescale adulteration of sweets and the unhygienic conditions under which they are made can simply kill people or be a source of some deadly diseases. The worst part is that the administration, despite claims about raids and seizures, is just not equipped to deal with the menace.
MCD officials maintained that a large number of sweet shops do not have the health and trade licence to sell sweets.
“For a sweet shop to have a proper licence, it should have connection with sewerage and tapped water supply from the Delhi Jal Board. Only about 10 shops out of 100 fulfill this condition,” said a senior MCD official.
He added that prosecuting the illegal shops was not a permanent measure, as they managed to get away by paying a small amount as penalty.
The official further added that such shops existed across the city and it would be prudent to avoid buying sweets from them.
On Thursday, the Delhi government’s food and adulteration department and the area sub-divisional magistrate carried out a raid at a rasgulla factory at Mandawali in east Delhi, where dangerous chemicals, considered unfit for human consumption under any circumstances, were being used.
The situation seems to be worse in the National Capital Region with adulterated khoya, paneer and other items being regularly seized by authorities.
Even canned sweet products, like rasgullas, are not free from contamination. An NGO had tested samples from eight canned rasgulla brands and found that none of them passed the test with presence of lead and nickel content.
The number of micro-organisms found in the samples were higher than what is expected in canned products.
However, in the wake of high degree of adulteration in products in open market, the canned products apparently seem to be still better option.