Sale of chemically treated veg, fruit send panic wave among consumers

Nitesh Sangral
JAMMU, April 14: Sky souring prices of vegetables apart, the reports about chemically treated vegetables and fruits being sold in localities, of Bhagwati Nagar, Durga Nagar, Bhori, Gangyal, Janipur and Shubash Nagar has become another factor of panic among the people. According to the residents from Janipur and other localities number of vegetable sellers is using chemically treated water which they spray on the vegetables and fruits to keep these fresh. “We have come to know that some growers are injecting chemicals into vegetables and fruits to get more yields. They are also using chemicals to make the produce look fresh and green to sell in the market,” said Kamal Kishore, from Janipur locality. Even as Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) has already caught some vendors using chemical spray on the Bananas, but officials said that there was no need to get panic as these are only some isolated incidents. “I have observed in the market that many vegetables are given artificial colour to make them look fresh. I think the administration should conduct proper checking at the mandis which supply farm produce to the people,” said Rajinder Kumar, a resident of Bhagwati Nagar. People have also stopped buying vegetables like bitter-gourd, brinjal, lady-finger, cucumber and pumpkin from small mandis in their localities and are looking for the farmers who come up with their produce directly to the localities from the villages. “It is better to buy from them rather than going to mandis as there is no guarantee at the market”, said a city resident. Raju, a vegetable seller, said, “Rumors have made people cautious now they closely watch the items on sale and task if these have been chemically treated. Mostly they point towards pumpkin and cucumber”. Dr Anwar Choudhary, Health Officer of the Jammu Municipal Corporation, said the municipal corporation would act against anyone who was found playing with the health of the people. According to source said that the vegetables Mandis condition is completely most awful and the vegetables and fruits dumping on germ area. Those vegetables sell in the common masses; the vegetables crate a lot of harm full to the human body. He further said that even fruits coming from other markets of Jammu are also made ripe with the help of chemicals and also have germ in the vegetables. These are essential items of daily use for everyone in the home. Sources said that mandis at Narwal, Prade, Satwari, Nai Basti and beside others these shops dumping vegetables on unclean place and this activities going on last many years but nobody checked them. Talking to Medical practitioners of the city, Dr Sanjeev Digra said that with eating this type of food material which has chemical inside it. He also said that due to this a lot of diseases arise like risk of cancer, skin problems, number of digestive problems, and food poising if greater. Interestingly, the JMC that time take step when someone complaints him otherwise they are not checking, where is the vegetables and fruits dumping like Mandis.