CHANDIGARH: Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Lakshmi Kanta Chawla has instructed all the civil surgeon of the State to conduct Statewide raids on sweets shops to check supply and usage of synthetic Khoya in preparation of sweets coming from adjoining States.

The minister said that instructions have been faxed to all the civil surgeons that nobody should be allowed to play with the health and lives of the citizens of the State. She said that purpose of raids should not be to harass the honest shopkeepers but was to curb the nefarious practices of some sweet shop owners for profiteering by selling adulterated Khoya and milk products. She said that the focus of raids should be on wholesalers to net big sharks and this would also be exemplary for others

SSP's of all the districts have been separately directed to provide adequate security to the raiding teams, as there was an incident of attack on the raiding party in district Mansa recently. Taking a strict view of attack on raiding party, SSP Mansa has been issued instructions to register criminal case against the culprits and ensure their arrest and immediate filling of a charge sheet to maintain the credibility of the government system.

The Minister said that she has separately taken up with the Chief Minister Punjab to strengthen various laws to check adulteration of food products. She said that as adulteration of a food product tantamount to playing with the life of an individual, it required stringent punishment to check this increasing practice of adulteration. She said that, strict action would be initiated against all those officials/ officers found colluding with the culprits and this would be recorded in their service records.

Meanwhile the raids conducted by the civil surgeon Ludhiana met its first success as it confiscated adulterated 7 quintals of synthetic khoya that was to be supplied to the small sweet shopkeepers. The owner of Goyal Sweet Supplier and company Ludhiana was arrested and already been put behind the bars, she added.