Draft Formalin Control Law-2013 to be placed before cabinet soon

Talha Bin Habib The draft Formalin Control Law-2013 will be placed before the cabinet shortly with a provision to award stringent punishment for indiscriminate use of the toxic chemical with foodstuffs. "We have prepared the draft of the law and will send it to the cabinet soon for its approval to check indiscriminate use of formalin with foodstuffs," Commerce Secretary Mahbub Ahmed told the FE Wednesday. He said they will make recommendations to the government for incorporating severe punishment for random use of formalin. The recommendations of draft law include unauthorised possession, use, production and import of and trading in formalin will lead to a maximum of 10 years' rigorous imprisonment and imposition of fine amounting to Tk 0.5 million (5.0 lakh). The offenders will get double punishment for repeating the same crime under the proposed draft law. Meanwhile, the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and some private banks, with the cooperation of the ministry of commerce (MoC), donated formalin dehydrate machines to kitchen markets in the capital and some other divisional and district towns. But the ongoing anti-formalin campaign is yet to bring optimum results due to lack of proper monitoring by the authorities concerned, a section of customers alleged. During visits to Shantinagar, Malibagh, Mohakhali and Gulshan-2 kitchen markets the FE correspondent found customers to be expressing their satisfaction over buying formalin-free fishes and vegetables. "We could purchase formalin-free fishes and vegetables from this market. But, I think the prices are a little bit high compared with those of the other kitchen markets," Md Abdur Razzak, a retired bank official, told the FE at Malibagh market. But a number of customers also said that the prices of some varieties of fishes are high compared with those of other kitchen markets that are yet to introduce formalin dehydrate machines. They also urged the authorities concerned to take effective steps to stop sale of formalin in the open market and monitor its use across the country. They also demanded inclusion of formalin in the list of controlled goods of the government, and imposition of a ban on its wholesale import. They said the ongoing move to free the kitchen markets from formalin should be continued so that people could buy unadulterated fish, fruits and vegetables. The Directorate of the National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) has been conducting regular drives against traders selling formalin mixed foodstuffs in the kitchen markets. "We have been maintaining regular market monitoring to check indiscriminate use of formalin with foodstuffs," said a high official of the directorate.