Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SB)

Mangaluru, Dec 5: District Food and Safety department and District Tobacco Control Cell jointly conducted a surprise raid at Kavoor Junction in n Wednesday, December 5.

During the raid, the officers found that majority of the shop owners are not aware of the rule of displaying the boards against the use of tobacco products in their shops. It has also come to light that many shops do not have the licence to sell food items.

Officers imposed fine on many shopkeepers for violating the regulations, while others were given awareness on displaying anti-tobacco boards and on selling expired goods.

 Speaking to Daijiworld, District National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) officer Dr Praveen said, "We inspected more than 30 shops in Kavoor Junction. We mainly concentrated on hotels, bakeries and grocery shops. It is compulsory to display anti-tobacco board in shops stating that these shops do not sell the tobacco items. But we did not find the board in front of any of the shops. It has come to light that majority of the shop owners are not aware of this rule. We strictly informed them to display the boards and make sure they do not sell any items that contain tobacco,"

 "We imposed fine on nearly 15 shops for selling food items without having licence from Food and Safety Department. The raid is a part of our food safety awareness campaign which has started this month. We have already inspected 300 shops all over the city and this campaign will continue further," he added.

District food safety officer and coordinator of NTCP, Dr Praveen led the raid along with officers Dr John, Khader, Shruthi and ASI of Kavoor police station Janardhan Gowda.