In the second day of the two-day long strike, the Bangladesh Khadya Babsayi Parishad (BKBP) a combine of food producers, yesterday demanded that the government suspend the ongoing drive until a benchmark of safety and hygienic standards is set.

They also urged the government to give the authority to a single body for checking the adulterated food in the market with a view to ending the unnecessary harassment to the food traders.

Amid the strike the mobile courts that are working to ensure the safety standards of the food items in the city raided different food producing factories and different canteen of the Dhaka University.

"We will go for a tougher movement if further harassment is conducted against the food traders in the name of the drive," Jalal Uddin, the BKBP Joint convenor, warned.

The dignity of the food traders is now being severely hampered by the ongoing drive against adulterated food, which since its creation has generated a strong idea in society that all food traders are involved with producing adulterated food, he said.

When asked why the city has recently launched such a stern drive against food producers, DCC Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka told BBC radio that this is actually not new. He admitted the DCC health department could not make regular inspections of restaurants due to a lack of manpower, but pointed out that in the past they sometimes performed inspections and even fined food traders. He promised that DCC would strengthen its health department and go for regular drives.s

Mobile Courts
Two mobile courts yesterday conducted raids and collected Tk 75 thousand.

A mobile court led by magistrate Rokanuddoulah yesterday raided four canteens of the University of Dhaka, including the historical Modhu's canteen of the university.

When the court reached the campus, students and teachers welcomed them, encouraging them to continue their raids.

Later they met the vice chancellor and pro- vice chancellor, both of whom welcomed the court and thanked them for visiting the campus.

The court fined the owner of Modhu's canteen Tk one thousand due to the lack of a hygienic environment in their kitchen and due to the lack of label on the products they sell.

When the court reached Mohasin Hall, the managers of the canteen and dining instantly fled away. The court issued summons against them.

They also collected fine from another canteen owner in the University.

Another court raided three bakery product factories in the Badda area, fining them for Tk 73 thousand, as they did not maintain the safety standard.

"We found them using rotten oil and different chemicals in their factories," said ABM Abdul Fattah, the magistrate of the court. "They do not mention the manufacturing and expiry dates in the label of the product."

Our Chittagong office adds:
A mobile court here yesterday fined Tk 2 lakh to ten elite business firms, including a superstore and filing station at the city's posh GEC Intersection, Dampara and adjoining areas for having an unhygienic environment, selling unhealthy and stale food, falsifying weights and failing to show proper documents.

Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) magistrate Syeda Sarwar Jahan, during the daylong drive from 10:30am yesterday, fined Tk 60,000 to Wellmart Super Store, Tk 55,000 to French Cakes and Pastries, Tk 23,000 to AFC Fast Food Shop, Tk 20,000 to Pitha Shop, Tk 10,000 to Police Line Patrol Pump, Tk 7,000 each to Hotel Silmoon, Hotel Sayeman, mini-Chinese restaurant Captain Bell and Hotel Nizam, and Tk 5,000 to Hotel Mamun.

The superstore was fined for cheating customers in weight. Its officials also failed to show BSTI-approved commodities and seal. Magistrate Sarwar Jahan warned general manager Badrul Hossain and manager (operations) Asad Ullah for interfering in her job and at one stage ordered police to take the two away on a van.

When contacted, Badrul admitted that the court found less weight in some packets. He claimed that they don't have any questionable or adulterated items.

"The customs authorities should be punished first for releasing imported food items without BSTI marks," he said, replying to a query from this correspondent.

French Cakes and Pastries is one of the city's most popular confectioneries, with branches in different areas. The magistrate to her disbelief came to know that such a reputed firm have no valid BSTI license. The court fined it Tk 55,000 and awarded one-and-half year imprisonment in failure to make the penalty by today. The owner of the shop went into hiding minutes before the court raid.

Among others, Pitha Shop was punished for selling adulterated jelly, Patrol Pump for cheating in weight, Hotel Sayeman, Hotel Nizam and Hotel Mamun for stale food items. AFC Food was fined for using impure cooking oil while Captain Bell for mixing colours.

The residential Hotel Silmoon, which has earned fame since its opening in 2003 near the Wasa Building, was fined by the court for selling stale lobsters.