A day after a survey revealed that most summer fruits are treated with formalin, a mobile court here on Wednesday sentenced the owners of five mango depots at Karwan Bazar to 15 days in jail and fined them Tk 2 lakh each for lacing their mangoes with the deadly chemical.
Besides, the court fined one employee of a mango depot in absence of its owner Tk 2 lakh, in default, to suffer one month in jail. The mobile court also damaged some 4,000 kgs of formalin-treated mango.
The survey, titled ‘Prevalence of Formalin in Seasonal Fruits in Markets of Dhaka’, conducted by Poribesh Bachao Andolon (Poba), found out the existence of formalin in 93.75 percent of the mango samples collected from different city markets.
It also revealed that a high percentage of summer fruits, including mango, litchi and blackberry, selling in city markets are largely treated with toxic formalin.
The mobile court of RAB-2, led by executive magistrate AHM Anwar Pasha, conducted drives at 10 mango depots at Karwan Bazar. After on the spot tests, the mobile court found the mangos of the six depots contaminated with formalin.
The court sentenced 15 days’ imprisonment to Haji Amir Hossain, 52, owner of M/S Sajib Enterprise, Md Imdadul Islam Jewel, 30, owner of Green Fruits Agency, Md Akkas Ali Mondol, 45, owner of Dhaka Banijyaloy, Md Majibur Rahman, 35, owner of Majibur Enterprise and Abdul Matin, 50, owner of M/S Tejgaon Farm.
They will have to suffer one month more in jail for their failure to pay the fine of Tk 2 lakh each.
As the owner of a depot was not there during the drive, the magistrate fined him Tk 2 lakh to one of its employee, Mobarak Hossain, in default, to suffer one month in jail.
Source: UNB Connect
