Officers of Food Safety, Vigilance and Enforcement, and Revenue Departments conducted surprise raids on two packaged drinking water plants in the city and seized water samples and a large quantity of sealed water bottles from the units here on Tuesday.
While one unit was located at Patamata Rythu Bazar, the other one was located at Tadepalli Street in Suryaraopet. Teams led by Assistant Food Controller N. Purnachandra Rao and Revenue Inspectors raided both units.
The officials found that the managements were directly bottling groundwater without any purification or processing, and were selling the water bottles at high prices in the market.
“The two water packaging units were running without licenses. We collected hundreds of water bottles, packets, empty water bottles and other material from the two units,” Mr. Purnachandra Rao told The Hindu.
Food Safety Officers Shekhar Reddy and Gopala Krishna, who participated in the raids, said that the two units were found to be operating in highly unhygienic conditions, and the managements were just filling groundwater in the bottles and packets.
“We requested the District Collector to grant permission to seize the two water packaging units. A case has been registered under Section 133 of the CrPc,” said Food Safety Officer Srikanth, adding that an investigation is in progress.