Dr. Forqan Uddin Ahmed :
Business means to maintain livelihood. Again it means to earn money and to increase productivity and changing the life pattern from lower to upper lifestyle with aristocracy and ambition. There are principles by which all business are run. If business is run on sound policy, honesty, goodwill, trust then it will earn fame and dignity. There will be the hundred percent satisfactions in it. If business deal is fine and fair it will be success oriented and people will get attracted to it.
In our country, there are dishonest dealers who always want to cheat people and adopt unfair means. They are not at all afraid of any ethics, only they are inclined to doze customers and consumers. With such a malign intention they do not procure quality products, they import inputs with defects and assemble it showing externally well fascinated. Again there is a group of people who produce and procure things in a bad manner. They knowingly ignore the stores principle and maintenance code. They have their know-how, but with wrong notion they avoid preserving things balanced and perfectly. As a result, things loses its quality, life temper, gets ruined and finally all commodities are declared invalid, useless and non serviceable. Our people are not aware of food, health, environment and economic security. So, dishonest fellows take chances to be unfair, fraud and fraudulent. When the month of holly Ramadan comes the purity campaign starts. The remaining eleventh months are off from such campaign. Everywhere there is the insecurity and dishonesty starting from food to clothing item, perishable to nonperishable things. All consumable items as well as all serviceable things are made polluted and contaminated. Again some things are made poisonous by preservatives, medicine and chemicals. This is not applicable only in food item, but also it is equally applied to all items like drinks, cosmetics and clothing’s also. Food is the fundamental right of all Bangladeshi citizens. If food security is not ensured the basic right will be violated from in taking of secured food. Safe food is a part and parcel of food security. So it must be ensured. Now a day’s public health has been threatened for use and application of chemicals in drugs, baby food, vegetable, other protein foodstuffs like fish, meat, milk etc. Even the carbohydrates food are not escaping from such act of harassment and misdeeds. The media both from print and electronics side awareness program is on, but the dishonest people do not pay heed to it. Moreover, it is assumed that state is no so serious about it. States agencies and its mechanism seem to be casual. At times, the markets come under operation from different agencies but it is not enough. These drives may make people easy but its effectiveness remains beyond the questions in people’s mind. These drives must be made more and more vigilant and dynamic. Only then, people will be satisfied. By taking adulterated food people are becoming diseased and even there are expired cases of lives also. By the reports from World food and agricultural organization (FAO) in Bangladesh 5 millions of people in every year are attacked by adulterated food, and become victims of complicated diseases.
It is amazing that from 2010 to 2013, 21860 food items were taken to experiment. From this experiment 50% of the total tested commodities were found adulterated. From research, it is found that food security act is not well implemented. There are many reasons for such adulteration in food. If I do not mention, those people can easily understand where the problems are lying.
There are powerful syndicates behind these activities. State is the super power and supreme authority. Who has given those syndicates to make people hostage to their hands? By research and survey from a non-government institution it is found that, local government, health department and BSTI are under-staffed to monitor the relevant sectors. At present, in 319 Pourasava and 11 city corporations are supposed to be managed by 370 sanitary Inspectors as per organogram, but there exist only 78 Inspectors. Again as per the organogram of health directorate 566 sanitary Inspectors are employed. But in consideration of works volume and scope this is not at all sufficient. On the other hand, there are only 38 Inspectors who are on duty against 68 approved post in BSTI. The manpower deficiencies of such posts in field level are creating big challenge to monitor food adulteration. Moreover, there are unfair and dishonest activities from sanitary and BSTI officers which is a great problem. These are being done bilaterally from government monitoring side and tradesman ship.
This is undoubtedly a bad design and signal from the different party’s like consumers, sellers and market monitoring authorities. As per pure food ordinance 1959 every districts and cities is entitled to ensure food security by code but it is not done. Even the high court verdict of 2009 is not being implemented in this regard (data and information collected from an article published in daily Sangbad, dated 11 June 2018).
In our country, government is cordial but for the deficit of required manpower, budget deficit, shortage of transport and logistics and deficit of adequate training, problems of sample procurement and its maintenance are the major problems for which our officials fail to discharge their duty with responsibilities. So to stop food adulteration a comprehensive action plan should be made from state. Otherwise, our future generation will suffer from malnutrition and we lose all the vitalities of life. So the comprehensive action plan is necessary to check it and monitor it.
For its correct and proper application, there is no alternative of it. To stop food adulteration concerned authorities must be more active and vigilant and campaign should not be confined to a particular month like Ramadan. It should be on for all the times.
