HC seeks Delhi government response on pesticides in vegetables

The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the city government to file an affidavit indicating the steps it has taken to create awareness and to curb the usage of the pesticide residue or colouring in fruits and vegetables available here in markets.

A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath asked the Delhi government to also indicate in its affidavit the steps it has taken to comply with a report filed by an expert committee on the issue.

The court also sought its response by November 4 on a plea seeking directions to to carry out the quality test on imported Chinese "plastic rice".

The plea said that due to globalisation, rice in large quantity is being imported from China but without any quality check. The "plastic rice" is being imported from China and it cannot be differentiated whether it is genuine rice or made of plastic, said the plea filed through advocate Sugriva Dubey.

For the last few years, China has been producing plastic rice which is being imported and sold throughout India. No test is carried out on whether the rice imported from China is genuine or not, Dubey said.

The plea said that when this plastic rice is boiled together with real rice, it melts and is impossible to differentiate but the plastic rice can't be digested.

The plea said that like rice, pulses are also being imported from China and the government should conduct searches to know the genuineness of the rice and pulses.

The plea was filed in a case already pending before the court, which has been monitoring the pesticides present in fruits and vegetables in the markets of Delhi.