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Drive against Adulteration Destruction of fruits goes on

Staff Correspondent
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) in drives against formalin-laced fruits destroyed over three tonnes of mangoes, 43 kilos of blackberries and 4.47 lakh litchis yesterday.
Among other fruits, 55 kilos of malta, 205 kilos of apple, 100 kilos of guava, 100 kilos of sofeda and 1650 pineapples were destroyed in the capital and at the eight check points set up around the city to prevent entry of adulterated fruits.
DMP also fined some traders and jailed two people for three months each for soaking fruits with the hazardous chemical, said DMP Assistant Commissioner (operations) Noor Alam.
Police set up the check posts on Wednesday at Postogola bridge, Waisghat in Sadarghat, Abdullahpur bridge, Dhaur bridge in Ashulia, Babubazar bridge, Gabtoli, Jatrabari Police Station and the intersection near Kamal bridge at Demra.
"We have learnt that traders are also using formalin after transporting fruits to Dhaka. So, we have decided to conduct drives within Dhaka city from Friday," Alam told The Daily Star.
Mobile courts conducted drives in the city's Kalabagan, Hatirpool, Mohammadpur Town Hall Bazar and Karwan Bazar yesterday.
Apart from police, representatives from Bangladesh Standards Testing Institution, Dhaka City Corporation, the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and the Consumers Association of Bangladesh were present there, Alam said.
Nayek Ali, a mango trader in Dhanmondi, said police at Gab toll checkpoint on Friday did not find formalin in his mangoes but a mobile court in an operation in Dhanmondi detected 65ppm of formalin in them the next day.
"Is there any problem with the testing kit?" he posed a question to The Daily Star.
Drives against adulterated fruits have been going on for the last three days at the checkpoints and inside the capital.
Such drives will be continued until the end of the mango season, Alam said.
Meanwhile, National Consumers Association and the Dhaka University pharmacy department in a joint press conference at the Teacher-Student Centre on the DU campus demanded that import of formalin be stopped.
Formalin has become a national problem nowadays, and the government should take immediate steps to control the import, storage, distribution and sale of the toxic chemical, they said.
"Those who use formalin in industries or school or hospital labs should be permitted to import formalin, not anyone else. Its sales in the open market must be banned," said Professor ABM Faroque of the depart-
ment.
Meanwhile, hundreds of mango traders clashed with policemen, forcing them to open fire at Baneswar Bazar in Puthia upazila of Rajshahi yesterday evening, following a mobile court drive against formalin-mixed mangoes, reported our correspondent from Rajshahi.
The clash ensued as some 1,500 traders took to the streets and barricaded the Dhaka-Rajshahi highway at Baneswar Bazar around 6:00pm.The protesters damaged several vehicles, including a Dhaka-bound passenger coach, the police and witnesses said.
No one was reported to have been