SUDDHA PANI SHUT DOWN FOR SELLING CONTAMINATED WATER

AMARKET monitoring team of the Department of Commerce and Supply Management (DoCSM) shut down Suddha Pani situated in the Pepsicola town planning area on Monday. The department took action against the company after it failed to abide by the purity standards set by the government. According to the DoCSM, the water being supplied by Suddha Pani was found to contain mesophilic and coliform bacteria. The company has been extracting ground water and selling it in the market after purifying it. A DoCSM statement said that the company had been banned from extracting ground water and supplying it. The operation was carried out in the presence of Sushmita Shrestha, proprietor of Suddha Pani. “The company has been sealed as it failed the quality test carried out by the Department of Food Technology and Quality Controls,” said Narayan Prasad Bidari, director general at the DoCSM. “We will intensify such operations in the days to come.” The Kathmandu valley is heavily dependent on water supplied by the private sector. Against the average daily demand of 370 million l of water in the valley, the Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) has been supplying just 140 million l. Private firms claim that they supply 90 million l of water by tanker daily. Likewise, they supply 120,000 units of 20-l water jars on a daily basis. “As per our findings, there are around 260 water extracting and distributing companies in Kathmandu. And most of them have not acquired operation permits. This has raised a serious question about the health of the general people,” said Prem Lal Maharjan, president of the National Consumers Forum. He added that the government should intensify such checks on water extraction and distribution as drinking water is among the basic needs of the general people. Maharjan added that the DoCSM should also look into the price factor of the water being distributed in the capital city. “A one-litre bottle of drinking water is sold for around Rs 25 while the production cost is just around Rs 10. As for the 20-l jar, the production cost is Rs 25- Rs 30,” said Maharjan, adding that the government should realize this and ask private water bottling firms to reduce prices. Apart from the water plant, the monitoring team checked Family Store in Pepsicola town planning area and seven other stores—New Namaste Mart, Baneshwor; Ganga Khadya Bhandar, Battisputali; Aaman Kirana Pasal, Bhimsengola and Banepali Pasal, Apna Cold Store and Best Buy Shopping Centre in Old Baneshwor. They were caught for not displaying price lists and signboards, not renewing their business licences and selling dateexpired products. The DoCSM said in a statement that all the date-expired products found in the stores were destroyed and the owners were warned not to repeat the offence in the future.