GUNTUR: Passersby were shocked to find hundreds of bags of spurious chilli powder also known as China mirchi powder, scattered on either side of the Guntur-Chilakaluripet Highway on Saturday. Special teams, comprising officials from food and safety, vigilance, revenue and legal metrology departments, estimate that at least 30,000 bags worth `8-10 crore were abandoned by spurious chilli manufacturers fearing action from the authorities.
About 20 special teams have raided various wholesale merchants, pickle manufacturers, 45 chilli powder manufacturing units, and 70 cold storage units over the last three days to curb spurious chilli powder manufacturing. They have seized and destroyed about `10 crore worth spurious chilli powder.
Against this backdrop, the officials had been receiving phone calls about the abandoned chilli powder bags since Friday morning itself. However, they reacted only on Saturday morning.
“We felt that they were hoax calls by the offenders meant to divert us from conducting the raids. But when the calls kept ringing in, we visited the spot on Saturday after conducting the raids and found at least 30,000 bags dumped on either side of the highway over a stretch of 1 km,” food and safety zonal controller N Purnachandra Rao told Express. The spurious chilli powder is being manufactured and marketed by some companies and dealers in Guntur district, by mixing low grade chilli powder with colour, liquids and other such material that could cause health problems to people. Officials suspect that to avoid getting caught by the authorities, the manufacturers might have dumped their entire stock in the vacant land.