Rehan Qayoom Mir
Srinagar, Aug 19: After facing criticism over the slow pace of action in the rotten meat scandal, authorities on Tuesday said that no individual can be named or held guilty until the proper laboratory reports are received.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Smita Sethi said the testing process is taking longer as some samples have been sent outside the Valley. “The labs have their own backlog, but we are pressing hard for early reports,” she said.
On the issue of only two FIRs so far, the Commissioner clarified that lodging cases is under the police domain. “Our job is enforcement and raids, while police are handling FIRs,” she added.
Amid concerns that enforcement has slowed down, the Commissioner maintained that the drive is still underway. “We conducted raids to establish links. Now we are working on those leads. The operation has not stopped,” she said.
Sethi shared that a total of 12,000 kilograms of decomposed and unlabelled meat has been seized so far, adding that people are now more cautious.
Meanwhile, public anger continues to grow over the delay in releasing test reports, with traders and residents questioning the lack of swift action.
