Berhampur Municipal Corporation to strictly implement ban on water pouches

• A fine of Rs. 100 each to be imposed on sellers, Rs. 500 on transporters
• The ban order issued on September 1
• Water pouch manufacturing unit sealed
  BERHAMPUR: The city municipal corporation has decided to impose fine on the sale of drinking water pouches in Berhampur. It may be noted that Berhampur was the first township in Orissa, where sale of drinking water pouches was banned. The sale of drinking water pouches in the city started about a decade ago. The municipal corporation at its meeting on August 28 decided to ban sale of these drinking water pouches as the used drinking water pouches were a major reason behind clogging of drains and were a major sanitary menace. The ban order was imposed on September 1. But clandestine sale of drinking water pouches continued in the city.
  The municipal corporation now decided to be extra strict on these covert sellers of drinking water pouches, said the Mayor of the city, Siba Shankar Dash. According to him, it was decided to put a fine of Rs. 100 on any roadside kiosk that sells these drinking water pouches. Any vehicle found to be transporting drinking water pouches inside the city would be imposed a fine of Rs. 500. Mr. Dash said the ban order on sale of drinking water pouches was an effort to upkeep the sanitation of the city which did not have a proper sewerage system. The large quantity of polythene waste from the lakhs of used drinking water pouches had become a headache for the municipal authorities.
  Municipal corporation medical officer Sashi Bhusan Panda said apart from sanitation and pollution problems, the doubts over the purity of water sold in the pouches was also a reason behind the ban order. Most drinking water pouches sold in the city did not have the date of manufacture and their expiry date printed on the pouches. Some of them did not even have the address of the manufacturer on them. The municipal authorities have also sealed a drinking water pouch manufacturing unit at Haldiapadar.
  Court moved
  Meanwhile, the drinking water pouch manufacturers have approached the Orissa High Court against the ban order of the municipal corporation. The municipal corporation has decided to fight them in court.
  Courtesy: The Hindu