& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Mobile courts whimsically fining supermarkets

Executives tell meeting with BSTI

Staff Correspondent
Supermarkets at a meeting yesterday accused mobile courts checking food adulteration and contamination of arbitrarily imposing fines and filing cases without specifying the crimes and giving them no chance to defend themselves.
"The BSTI (Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution) issues licences to manufactures for maintaining product standards. So why should mobile courts fine us for the manufacturers' faults?" said Shaheen Khan, chief operating officer of Meena Bazar.
The meeting between supermarkets, bakery owners and BSTI was held at the BSTI conference room in the capital.
Shaheen said the mobile courts often
accuse the products of bearing fake BSTI labels and demand import and purchase documents of the products at the retail shops, which was very illogical as those are kept in the warehouses.
Shamsuddoha Shemul, head of retail sales of ACI Logistics Limited, under which are the retail outlets named Shwapno, said fines were also imposed for products of manufacturers whose licence has not been renewed.
For example, if the manufacturer's certification marks (CM) licence, which certifies the standards, expires in June and the renewal process is underway, the mobile courts will fine stores marketing the products in September, he said.
"If we are notified of the CM licence
FROM PAGE 5
deadline, we can act accordingly, but fining is unfair, ” Shemul said.
Mirza Shahadat Hossain, chairman of Bangladesh Bread, Biscuit and Confectionary Manufacturers Association, noted a mobile court that fined a bakery shop, prompting law enforcers to take away a good amount of products without providing a seizure list as per law.
The supermarket executives accused the BSTI, city corporations and district administrations of operating mobile courts without any coordination and suggested strong monitoring of factories instead of retail shops to ensure standard of the products.
BSTI Director General Iqramul Haque said
mobile courts were run as per the law but there could be some shortcomings. He assured the traders of addressing the problems.
He said the Safe Food Act 2013 has provisions of creating a single authority which, once established, will be able to best coordinate the monitoring activities.
Iqramul asked the retail shop officials to immediately inform the BSTI if they find anyone of the institution seeking financial privileges from the retailers. “We will take legal action immediately.”
BSTI Director Kamal Prashad Saha said traders must be aware of the food related laws and standards and go by those considering rising public health concerns.