Was inferior insecticide used for fumigation?

Nitapol Industries, a firm manufacturing insecticide used for fumigation in Mumbai, has been declared unfit to manufacture the substance at its unit in Kolkata, by a procurement agency of the MP government.

Nitapol Industries, a firm manufacturing insecticide used for fumigation in Mumbai, has been declared unfit to manufacture the substance at its unit in Kolkata, by a procurement agency of the MP government. The BMC still procures the insecticide manufactured by this company.

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The BMC had issued work orders worth Rs 26.18 crore last year to a supplier, which was procuring 2.57 lakh litres of insecticide from Nitapol, even after it supplied substandard insecticide to the civic bodies of Bhopal, Indore and Pune last year.

Last year, BMC also imposed a fine of Rs 64 lakh on the same company, after it found the sample unfit. “We fined the company and directed them to give us fresh supply. The insecticide was purchased again in May 2014, and was found to be fit, which we what we are using now for fumigation,” said a civic official.

The BJP in the civic body wrote to the civic chief on Friday, asking why the insecticide was procured from the same firm. “If the firm has been found unfit by other civic bodies, and fined by BMC, then why is it still procuring the insecticide?” asked Manoj Kotak, BJP group leader.

“We supplied materials as per tender conditions of BMC, which conducted a field trial. All the procedures had been recorded by the BMC employees. The materials have been checked batch-wise and have been tested in approved labs. The test reports are confidential that’s why they did not disclose it to us. But the report was excellent and up to the standard that’s why they accepted the materials,” said Argha Chakravorty, GM, Nitapol.