NEW DELHI, October 2: Food Minister Poornima Sethi has ruled out relaxing of testing regulations enforced after the ban on mustard oil was lifted recently. A team of merchants had met the minister on Thursday asking for concessions at least for a month, warning that an oil and vanaspati scarcity would hit the Capital in two or three days. The minister said that the merchants have a responsibility to the public. ``We have already eased terms regarding packaging by allowing them to get the date of testing and batch number printed on the packets on their own. There will not be any concessions on testing''.The order, enforced from September 30, says that before being sold, oil has to tested in the six laboratories selected by the government.
``No oil or vanaspati is being manufactured in Delhi. So why should manufacturers outside Delhi take the trouble to test oil in the laboratories specified by the government, four of which are in Delhi? They would rather not sell in Delhi,'' says Delhi Vegetable Oil Traders Association president Lakshmichand Agarwal.
According to Agarwal, the stocks in the city will last another two or three days and further supply will stop altogether if the government does not allow more laboratories to carry out the tests.
``Manufacturers like Godrej, Hindustan Lever, ITC, Bhatinda Chemical (Rishi) and Haryana Oil & Soya Ltd (Kesar vanaspati) are from outside Delhi and cannot be expected to queue up in Delhi or in the two other laboratories just to sell their oil in Delhi. Besides a test report takes 15 days. Diwali is round the corner and the government should relax the rule at least for one month or there will be a severe crisis,'' Agarwal said.
The merchants and manufacturers are holding a meeting on Saturday. Agarwal said they will not be meeting Sethi any more.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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