Maharashtra's newly appointed FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe has launched one of the department's most aggressive crackdowns in years; he has started a strong campaign against food adulteration and illegal manufacturing, seizing over 22 lakh kg of adulterated goods worth ₹29.11 crore, filing 235+ FIRs, and sealing around 274 illegal units within his first month. His raids exposed synthetic milk rackets and unhygienic manufacturing units across Mumbai and Jalgaon.
Authorities seized 17,031 kg of paneer, khoya, cheese and ghee after finding products without labels or original bills. The officers also confirmed that the items were stored in unhygienic conditions. Whereas Khoya made up the largest part of the seized products, everybody knows that all these are used in sweets and confectionery items and for spiritual purposes. The officers also found missing details like manufacturing dates, expiry dates, batch numbers and also FSSAI license information, with no supporting purchase invoice details, which made it very difficult to check their source and safety parameters.
Well, whenever the truth comes out, and illegal, unethical and wrong activities are exposed in front of society, the culprits cannot accept that their fake promise, the drama of their “healthy food”, is no longer hidden.
Mercenary people have started dangerous,s serious, illegal activities with food and are simply playing with people's health. Motivated purely by money, no matter if people die, who cares! Population is just a number for them.
So, naturally,y after this incident, Mundhe was facing pressure from business lobbies; the “international drug lobby” was seeking Mundhe’s removal, though the state government publicly confirmed that he'd stay. But the surprising story is — then they quietly stripped him of his Guardian Secretary post, revealing the establishment's lingering discomfort with his uncompromising style.
The department has already seized adulterated milk, dairy products, edible oil, jaggery, tea powder, drinking water, mango ripening agents, and they also banned gutkha & tobacco. And all these are foods which people of almost all ages consume on a daily basis.
Knowing that kids drink milk, and nowadays students & elders also drink milk regularly, these “fully business-minded” people do not have any guilt or even a human mind. Truly, how far can one degrade themselves!
On the other hand, a strong personality and a generous leader like Tukaram Mundhe, in his 20 years of career, has been transferred 23 times, a literally astonishing fact! People have rarely seen such a number of transfers of an officer in such a span of time. Mostly it happened mainly with the serious, responsible officers who act against corruption & do not let political pressure change their decisions, and generally not with the ones who just don’t care!
While the international drug network was trying to get Tukaram Mundhe transferred, it also came to light that around Rs 250 crore was being collected to influence the transfer. Not only this, even the concerned minister could lose his position in the government if he insists on keeping Mundhe in the post.
Though several MLAs, including Kashinath Date, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Nana Patole, Abhijit Patil, Rais Shaikh, Prashant Bamb, Atul Bhatkhalkar and Amasha Padvi, supported Mundhe.
Patil & Bamb also said about the involvement of some FDA officials in the milk adulteration & gutkha rackets. While NCP (SP) legislator Jitendra Awhad alleged that certain officials also manipulated reports to help the accused escape punishment. And if this continues: do crime with a free mind and already know that nobody can do anything against that person, just easily get free from punishments or consequences, by seeing this others will also get encouragement to do more crimes. Where sin and crime are supported, nobody knows how the current and future generation will differentiate right from wrong, ethical from unethical activity!
Another shocking fact:t, Shaikh also claimed that a racket which is operated in Bhiwandi was selling expired stuffs via various online platforms and ecommerce sites, and FDA officials themselves helped in issuing fake certificates.
So that's clearly imaginable that if Mundhe is being transferred, it directly concludes that e-commerce is absolutely okay to keep the health and life of the citizens at risk: “citizens are not so important in front of money”!
Food & Drug Administration Minister Narhari Zirwal has assured that Mundhe would not be transferred & a total of 1,930 food samples were collected for laboratory analysis, and proper legal actions will be initiated. Zirwal also said that establishments (in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nashik, Nagpur and Raigad) of new labs and upgrading the existing ones will be done in the upcoming months; he will check the infrastructure of the establishments o. The government will also support the process.
Zirwal also said that the government is checking with the Maharashtra Public Service Commission to fill the vacant posts of the food safety officers. Because among 200 sanctioned posts, only 41 officers are working. Maharashtra generally requires around 1,100 food safety officers & around 400 drug inspectors, and they are actively looking into this matter. People also came to know that FDA will soon launch a toll-free helpline number and a mobile application through which citizens can directly register complaints.
But this is not the only solution, the important thing is whoever will be joining, they should be honest, responsible, have ethics, and most importantly, a brave person.
The department has signed agreements with 22 accredited labs under the public-private partnership (PPP) model; it has reduced the time taken for test reports from 90 days to around 30/35 days.
Mundhe is known for taking firm and steady decisions, improving systems, and not tolerating injustice. Mumbai really needs this fearless leader, who puts public & peoples safety above politics.
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