The district administration has locked up 30 unauthorised packaged drinking water units after conducting simultaneous raids on Sunday. Nine units are in Chitradurga city, ten in Challakere, two in Hiriyur, one in Holalkere, four each in Hosadurga and Molakalmuru.
Tahsildar B T Kumaraswamy, who led the team, told Express that as the people are shelling out money to get safe drinking water, the packaged water units must follow the guidelines and obtain the ISI mark.
As getting ISI mark and running the unit as per the guidelines of Bureau of Indian Standards is a costly affair, the manufacturers are not interested in certification and filling water after purifying, he added. Despite serving several notices, none of the units responded positively. Hence, the administration was forced to lock such units, he said. He warned of initiating criminal proceedings against the units found flouting the rules. The revenue and food officials are authorised to initiate action, he informed.
Taking serious note of the situation, DC V P Ikkeri instructed all the Tahsildars to initiate proceedings against the unauthorised packaged drinking water units.