FDA inspection teams skip Ganeshotsav pandals in Nagpur despite strict guidelines
Despite strict pre-festival guidelines, no FDA team has inspected a single Ganeshotsav pandal in Nagpur, and officials say such checks are not possible.
Before Ganeshotsav began in Nagpur, the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Nagpur division had issued guidelines with big claims. The department had framed strict rules to ensure food safety at mahaprasad and bhandara distributions, and had warned clearly that breaking the rules would invite strict action. The department had also said it would keep a close watch on food safety.
But once the festival began, the situation on the ground turned out to be completely different from these claims. Mahaprasad is being distributed at many places across the city, yet not a single FDA team has so far inspected any pandal. This means all the pre-festival warnings and claims of close monitoring remained confined to paper.
FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe had laid special emphasis on checking food items and strict compliance with rules at public events, so that people's health would not be compromised. But the department's lax approach in Nagpur has raised questions over these very administrative directives.
This makes it clear that in the name of food safety, the FDA is only going through the motions. The proof is that no team has reached any mandal's pandal so far. When asked, the department itself admitted that its team has not carried out a single inspection to check food safety at any pandal. The department also made clear that it cannot inspect pandals.
FDA Co-Commissioner Krishna Jaipurkar said that no pandal has been inspected so far. When asked about the strict guidelines issued a few days earlier, he said clearly that it is not possible for the Food and Drug Administration in Nagpur to check mahaprasad or food at public and religious events such as Ganeshotsav, Durga Puja or Iftar, and that his team cannot do so.
The co-commissioner's statement proved that the advisory and toll-free number issued before the festival were merely a formality. The question arises that if the department had neither the authority nor the intention to go and check food items at pandals, then what was the point of issuing elaborate directives warning of strict action. During this festive period, thousands of people visit pandals every day to partake of mahaprasad.
