STATE TIMES NEWS
LEH: As many as 104 quintals of putrid chicken were seized as an official squad from district administration Leh on Tuesday raided a cold storage in industrial area Skalzangling following a tipoff from a surprise routine checking by Leh Police.
According to reports unpacked putrid chicken worth about Rs 24 lakh was recovered from a cold storage of M/s Ladakh Enterprise at Industrial Area Skalzangling. The unpacked chicken had neither any brand name nor date label of packaging.
The team comprised of HQ DySP Peer Zahoor and SHO Tsewang Dorjay from the Police Department, Chief Animal Husbandry Officer Dr Mohammad Iqbal, District Health Officer (DHO) Dr. Tashi Namgyal, officials from Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (F,CS&CA) Department and Councillor Lower Leh, Phuntsog Wangdan.
The 104 quintal of seized chicken was later destroyed in presence of a Magistrate Tehsildar and representative from chicken dealers, food safety officer, veterinary doctors and the Police Department.
Councilor Wangdan Shunu said that cold storage had violated all rules by subletting the store to someone and LAHDC will make sure to check all such illegal possession of stores in future.
Chief Animal Husbandry Officer, Dr Iqbal said that lack of proper spacing in the cold storage and power failure resulted in spoiling of the chicken. He added that chicken has highest bacterial growth rate as compare to red meat and consuming such chicken could cause severe food poisoning.
SHO Tsewang Dorjay informed that during a surprise routine checking police found a shop in the market selling putrid chicken and during the inquiry it came to fore that cold storage was storing rotten chicken and raid was conducted and huge quantity of chicken seized.
F,CS&CA Tehsil Supply Officer, Mohammad Ali said that this is the second time that same chicken whole seller was caught for selling putrid chicken and now committee will take strict action on such defaulters even considering of sealing the cold storage after consulting with higher authorities as imposing fine alone doesn’t help.
Shop Owner Tahir Ahmed claimed that his cold storage located at Maneychilding had developed some technical fault in the compressor so he shifted the chicken to this location. It is also learnt that violating all rules M/s Ladakh Enterprise at industrial area has sub let the cold storage to Tahir Ahmed on a rent of Rs.80,000 per month.