NEW
DELHI: Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on Thursday sought to allay
apprehensions that it will be unable to enforce the proposed revised
standards of bottled and packaged water saying it will do so as soon
as the requisite changes are made in the Prevention of Food Adulteration
(PFA) Rules by the Health Ministry.
"There
should not be any confusion on the issue, BIS is prepared to implement
the proposed revised standards but at present the ball is in the Health
Ministry's court," BIS sources told PTI.
They
said testing of bottled water can be done by any of the internationally
accredited laboratories and planned upgrade of BIS equipment should
not be considered a reason for delay in implementing the new standards.
The
proposed revision was forwarded to the Health Ministry at the BIS initiative
so the question of backing out from their implementation does not arise,
they added.
Consumer
Affairs Minister Sharad Yadav has also written twice to the Health Minister
Sushma Swaraj to expedite the matter and the latter made a commitment
in Parliament to make the requisite changes in PFA Rules by April 1,
they said.
Both
ministries are in touch at the secretary level and bones of contention
if any will be sorted out amicably, sources said.
Over
a thousand representations have been received by the Health Ministry
after the draft notification was circulated for public comment with
a number of issues being raised including getting certificate from the
ground water authority and getting samples approved under internationally
established test methods, they added.
PTI
[ THURSDAY, MARCH
27, 2003 08:42:03 PM ]
