Maharashtra govt to make milk adulteration a non-bailable offence

Food and civil supplies minister Girish Bapat said penalty for milk adulteration would be raised to three years, there will be regular checks on vans

The Maharashtra government may bring in a law to make adulteration of milk a non-bailable offence, with a punishment of up to three years in jail.

Mobile vans will test milk being carried in vans entering Mumbai more frequently, the minister said.

Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, state food and civil supplies minister Girish Bapat said if the penalty for milk adulteration was increased to three years, there would be no scope for the accused to get bail. He was responding to the issue, which was raised by Ameet Satam of the Bharatiya Janata Party and others through a Calling Attention notice.

Currently, the adulteration of milk is a bailable offence with provision for a six-month imprisonment, Bapat said. “If the imprisonment period is increased to three years, there will be no scope of bail for the accused,” he said, adding that the state government would enact a law to this effect soon.

Many members in the House demanded life imprisonment in such offences, but the minister said there would be many difficulties in enacting a law that has a provision for life sentence.

Bapat also said there are only four mobile vans in the state that test for milk adulteration, and admitted that the tests are not conducted regularly. He assured the House that the authorities concerned would be asked to carry out checks regularly. “The mobile vans will conduct tests more frequently on the milk carried in vans entering Mumbai and some other parts of the state,” the minister said.

Earlier, Satam had stated that around 30% of the milk brought into Mumbai is adulterated.He said surprise checks were not being conducted because of a shortage of mobile vans as well as staff. He also demanded amendments to the existing law to check the adulteration of milk, medicines, and food in hotels.