SELLING bottled water at high prices along with sale of fake mineral water in plastic containers in different areas of the capital has turned into a booming business. Small hotels, tea stalls and confectioneries sell such fake mineral water to customers for Tk 1 per glass. By doing it they are not only cheating the public, the illegal trade of counterfeit water is also poising serious health hazards to city dwellers.
Illegal traders are filling empty plastic containers from sundry places with tap water and selling these as mineral water with fake security seals and brand names. This is the height of commercial fraudulence surreptitiously at work. The authorities conducted drives only to unearth fake mineral water plants, and not against sale of such water. BSTI authorities claimed they will launch drives against sellers of fake mineral water so that they can track down its producers and suppliers. But they are yet to launch the drive against these miscreants. A source said this fake business is booming day by day with ruling party men or others using their names allegedly getting involved in it and controlling the market.
What is particularly shocking is the indifferent attitude of law enforcers in the city where fake mineral water is produced and bottled. Dishonest businessmen run fake mineral water plants at night and keep their plants locked and shut from outside to evade BSTI drives in daytime. Law enforcers should take the matter into consideration when conducting drives against them. Only the good intention of law enforcers is enough to capture them. This is going on under the nose of the City Corporations but they are doing nothing because Dhaka WASA has failed to provide safe water to city dwellers forcing people to become dependent on fake mineral water in containers at many places.
This unsafe water of plastic jars contributes to high nutritional imbalance, which may again cause health problem over time like typhoid, diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera etc. It is dumbfounding to note how indifferent those traders could be to the health hazards that their businesses are causing to the users.
What has been exposed in essence is the complete denial of consumers’ rights to unadulterated water. We are shocked to see that the rights of the consumers are routinely ignored and violated in so many ways and yet the authorities are seemingly turning a blind eye to it. Such trade in fake mineral water is a culpable offence that must be sternly dealt with.
Illegal traders are filling empty plastic containers from sundry places with tap water and selling these as mineral water with fake security seals and brand names. This is the height of commercial fraudulence surreptitiously at work. The authorities conducted drives only to unearth fake mineral water plants, and not against sale of such water. BSTI authorities claimed they will launch drives against sellers of fake mineral water so that they can track down its producers and suppliers. But they are yet to launch the drive against these miscreants. A source said this fake business is booming day by day with ruling party men or others using their names allegedly getting involved in it and controlling the market.
What is particularly shocking is the indifferent attitude of law enforcers in the city where fake mineral water is produced and bottled. Dishonest businessmen run fake mineral water plants at night and keep their plants locked and shut from outside to evade BSTI drives in daytime. Law enforcers should take the matter into consideration when conducting drives against them. Only the good intention of law enforcers is enough to capture them. This is going on under the nose of the City Corporations but they are doing nothing because Dhaka WASA has failed to provide safe water to city dwellers forcing people to become dependent on fake mineral water in containers at many places.
This unsafe water of plastic jars contributes to high nutritional imbalance, which may again cause health problem over time like typhoid, diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera etc. It is dumbfounding to note how indifferent those traders could be to the health hazards that their businesses are causing to the users.
What has been exposed in essence is the complete denial of consumers’ rights to unadulterated water. We are shocked to see that the rights of the consumers are routinely ignored and violated in so many ways and yet the authorities are seemingly turning a blind eye to it. Such trade in fake mineral water is a culpable offence that must be sternly dealt with.
