The Delhi
government had claimed that it did not have adequate laboratories and could
currently test for only 28 varieties of pesticides.
The Food
Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued draft
regulations for food imports and may soon make it mandatory for importers of
food and vegetables to produce test reports from authorised labs to ensure
pesticide remains in fruits and vegetableswere
within prescribed limits.
With the
Delhi High Court monitoring the issue of pesticides in
food in a PIL, the Central government has filed a status
report on the measures recommended by an expert committee created
on court orders to suggest methods to contain the problem.
On
Wednesday, during a hearing before the court of Chief
Justice G Rohini and Justice R S Endlaw, the Ministry of
Agriculture filed two affidavits before the court regarding the steps
taken by the government on the report filed by amicus curiae Sanjay
Jain, as well as the expert committee.
“Department
of Agriculture and Cooperation has decided to conduct, through its
various divisions, an extensive campaign through the media to
educate
the public (farmers, traders
and consumers) at the national level regarding
the safe use of pesticides and also to conduct campaigns for safe ripening and
storage of perishable fruits and vegetables,” the government affidavit said.
The
affidavit further stated that the Ministry of Agriculture had “decided to
extend all assistance to the state government of NCT of Delhi in
setting up requisite infrastructure for enhancing
its capacity to carry out sample testing of
pesticides in fruits and vegetables.”
During
an earlier hearing, the Delhi government had
claimed that it did not have adequate laboratories and could currently test for
only 28 varieties of pesticides.
The
ministry has also started broadcasting programmes on agriculture including
“safe use of pesticides” on Doordarshan/All India Radio under
Krishi Darshan to spread awareness among farmers and consumers.
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