KATHMANDU, June 7: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) during an inspection on Friday has found that three Bhaktapur-based dairies were not maintaining cleanliness at their production units and one Lalitpur-based dairy was operating without government permission.
"During the inspection today [Friday], CIAA inspection team found that production units of three Bhaktapur-based dairies -- Bhaktapur Dairy, Jagadamba Dairy and Sanjibani Dairy -- had not maintained hygiene," CIAA´s Assistant Spokesperson Keshav Prasad Ghimire told Republica. "Similarly, the team found that Idea Plus, a dairy based at Jharuwarasi in Lalitpur was operating without acquiring government license."[break]
According to him, the anti-corruption body will write to the concerned government authorities such as the Department of Commerce for necessary actions.
Apart from the aforementioned four dairies, the CIAA officials on Friday also inspected production quality of several other dairies. They inspected three other dairies based in Bhaktapur -- Kharipati Dairy from Chhaling, Kalika Dairy from Bageshwari and Sainju Dairy from Kharipati.
In Lalitpur, the officials inspected Navapravat Dairy and Rajdhani Dairy both from Chapagau and Nepal Dairy from Saatdobato Hattiban.
Earlier on Thursday, the officials had inspected production quality of Dairy Development Corporation at Balaju, Aadhunik Dairy at Balaju, Saamuhik Krishak Dairy at Balaju and Sita Ram Dairy at Kritipur.
The officials have forwarded the samples of milk produced at all the dairies to the government´s food testing lab.
Ghimire said the further actions will depend on the lab reports.
Of all the dairies only the Dairy Development Corporation at Balaju is government-run while others are run by the private sector or cooperatives. The CIAA´s jurisdiction is to investigate the abuse of authority, corruption and other irregularities taking place in the government-run utilities and agencies.
"The CIAA decided to inspect private-run dairies as well after numerious complaints about the poor quality of the milk," said Ghimire. "The commission couldn´t remain indifferent toward the complaints as the issue is directly associated with public health."
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