Authorities raid illegal mineral water plant at Natipora

Srinagar, Jan 24: The Food Safety wing of the Drugs & Food Control Organisation, Kashmir, carried out a raid on an illegal mineral water plant at Azad Basti area of Natipora here.

During the raid, authorities seized over 60 water bottles each containing 20 litres of water. The owners of the plant were found filling bottles with water without proper filtration.

During the raid, officials found a tube well and dirty storage tanks, raising concerns about violation of laid norms in the plant.

Also, the bottles were suspiciously labelled under a different brand name.

Assistant Commissioner, Food Safety Srinagar, Yamin Ul Nabi told Greater Kashmir that the water plant was operating unlawfully at Natipora.

“Firstly, this water plant was running illegally. Also, we didn’t find any water plants setup there. The owner was packaging water from a tube well and storage tanks without proper filtration, deceiving the public,” he said.

He said that “this is a blatant violation of food safety regulations as workers were packaging water without adhering to basic sanitation practices. The unhygienic conditions within the facility posed a serious threat to consumers.”

Yamin said that labels of other brands were deceitfully placed on bottles from other water plants.

He urged the public to exercise their consumer rights. “I am appealing to people to activate their consumer rights. If there are issues regarding food safety in your areas, please inform the Food Safety Department and register your complaint through a phone call. In today’s case. we received a complaint and acted swiftly.”

Authorities have urged people and shopkeepers to be proactive in reporting any suspicious activities to maintain the integrity of food and water safety standards.

“Please check every packaged item before consumption,” he said.