The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) claims service pipelines and unclean reservoirs in houses are the main sources of contamination and not the civic body pipelines. KMC to carry out more food safety raids with the help of the enforcement department against contaminated packaged water.

In a recent revelation, the civic body claimed that contamination lies in the service lines reservoirs or overhead tanks in houses instead of in the KMC pipelines. The water storage facilities and the service pipelines supplying the KMC water to households seldom undergo cleaning, claimed a civic body official.

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The mayor, Sovan Chatterjee, said, “ We have said earlier that samples of water collected from a reservoir from one house revealed contamination. The water was kept stored in unhygienic conditions while samples collected from one particular hand tube well in one of the affected area also revealed contamination.” “There is no point putting all the blame on the civic body.

Cleaning of overhead tanks and service lines in every house should be taken up from time to time. “There were some small leaks in the KMC pipelines but it is already being repaired.

We are also conducting food safety drives to trace the source of the contaminated packaged water that are being sold by private vendors without the stamp of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). I have already spoken to the Commissioner of Police to help us in tracing the manufacturing units and taking strong legal action against the offenders,” said Mr Chatterjee.

During the recent food safety drive, it had come to light that these water packages are allegedly being manufactured in areas of North and South 24 Parganas. Meanwhile, Atin Ghosh, member mayor-in-council (MMIC), Health, said, “A food safety drive will be conducted from tomorrow by the food safety officers in collaboration with the police.

This is part of the routine food safety drives that we conduct. We needed the help of the enforcement department as they can probe into the matters in the district areas.”“The contamination is being traced mostly in 20 litre containers and not the one litre ones. Water samples collected from some of these jars for tests revealed a high percentage of Coliform bacteria. Legal action will be taken against the offenders,” said Mr Ghosh.