Food Safety Officer checks allegations of unhygienic food in Sivasagar district

A CORRESPONDENT

GAURISAGAR: An allegation was raised against Regal Infratech Company Limited of providing unhygienic food to their labourers who are working at the four-lane highway construction from Jhanji to Gaurisagar stretch. The Haryana-based company is constructing the Jhanji to Gaurisagar four-lane highway stretch for which a camp has been set up at Charing Duarahpar on the outskirts of Gaurisagar in Sivasagar district. As many as a hundred workers are engaged every day in the construction.

One month ago, the company provided lunch (hot rice, dal, and sabji) to their labourers in polythene bags, which was widely published in the media. It may be noted that this packed lunch was carried in cement and sand-carrying trucks instead of separate food vehicles. Experts say that as soon as any hot object is filled in polythene, the toxic elements produced from it, including plasticizers, can become carriers of deadly cancer. In such a context, the workers expressed their dissatisfaction with the supply of food inside polythene.

After publication of the news, the Labour Officer and Food Safety Officer in Sivasagar visited the temporary camp of Regal Infratech Company and expressed surprise at the unsanitary kitchens and dirty rooms of the workers and directed the Regal Infratech authorities to clean the kitchens and residential areas of the workers within a week.

However, the company has been cooking food in the same unhygienic environment and supplying food to the workers in violation of the strict guidelines of the Food Safety Department. Recently, Mayurakshi Gogoi, Food Safety Officer, Sivasagar, led a surprise inspection of their camp. There, the team observed that cooked food items were kept uncovered, food was wrapped in polythene and newspapers, and waste food thrown into the blocked sewers. The department gave strict instructions to Regal Infratech Company to stop cooking food in such an unhealthy environment and to arrange a scientific kitchen within the next week. The Food Safety Inspector also collected samples of food cooked for the workers.

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