Whose Onus is it Anyway?
A report published in a leading vernacular daily this week has not only revived the chilling sensation down the spine but has also made us ponder if at all there is any one to look after matters concerning public health. If the Sangbad report is anything to go by , then there is none.
It informs with fearful clarity how the lone food laboratory of the capital has remained inoperative for seven months. Want of space has been attributed as the problem. We are amazed to know that despite having a sprawling office premises adorned with a fourteen floor edifice, the City Corporation authorities find it difficult to house the laboratory with all its valuable equipment, huddled on one of the floors collecting rust from prolonged disuse!
With the laboratory non-functioning, the food inspectors naturally do not have any job. What strikes one as a tale within the tale in its own right for sheer absurdity is the number of inspectors. For a city with a huge population like Dhaka there are reportedly only 22 food inspectors; eight are on job in the sense they are under some training programme. The rest 14 are just twiddling their fingers or as we are so wont to hear enjoying the status ofbekar.
Where are we going? We munch mouthful of fried rice or mudi with blissful ignorance making light of suggestions they are spiced with fertilizers like urea for their whiteness. The same chemical is said to be responsible for the 'fair complexion' of sugar that taste so sweet for our taste buds as well as somnolent consciousness. It can be a legion. In fact, we are so many light years behind others in consciousness about what we consume everyday that dark possibilities like 'mad cow disease and 'chicken virus' do not even have a chance to cast shadows on our mind.
What does the City Corporation do? Can it betray the tax paying citizens in the manner it is doing now over a serious issue like public health? For that matter what is the concerned ministry doing? May be, threat to their own precious health which the content of this report poses eminently, will wake them up to their long disused sense of responsibility.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments