Ujjain : With Diwali just round the corner, black- marketing as well as seizure of adulterated food items seems to have become the norm of the day.
Market is expecting bumper sell ahead of Deepawali on the occasion of Pushya Nakshatra on Thursday.
A joint team of the Health Department and the police seized a chunk of adulterated material at Gadi Adda on Tuesday night that was being brought from Unhel- Nagda to deliver in city and other nearby districts. Be careful about the sweets you eat this Diwali as they could leave a bitter taste behind or make you ill.
With the denizens set to celebrate festivals this month, the Health Department is cracking down on elements engaged in the adulteration of sweets.
The department has seized mawa and khoya. Their samples have been sent for testing.
The sweets in some places were also found to be containing synthetic colour, harmful chemicals and fungus. To check the sale of spurious mawa, the department has started an inspection drive and lifted samples from several sweet shops in the city.
Meanwhile, the ‘ Mawa’ merchants and traders involved in similar business wore blank faces on Thursday as their market was empty on such a peak festive season.
Most of the traders at Mawa market of Dhaba Road were seen sitting empty handed and resting all day. When asked, a merchant said, fearing the administrative crackdown, suppliers have ceased the supply of Mawa and Khoya, and now even the good ones are not supplying the material.
Administrative whip is necessary but they need to find other ways for it, the merchant added.
But, the residents are fearless from unscrupulous adulterers and are thronging markets, as every nook and corner of the city is padded with brightly colored decorative items and fancy ‘ Vandanvars’. Pushya Nakshatra is considered an auspicious occasion to invest and acquire material such as gold. When Pushya Nakshatra falls on a Thursday, and is believed to produce even more favourable circumstances.
Hundreds of extended stalls of Saris, Electronic items, Giftware and other items are installed at various areas of the city. Shopkeepers are leaving no stone unturned for the Pushya Nakshtara of Thursday and upcoming days. Almost all of them are providing special rebates and discounts on their products and gold comes in that too! With the Festival of Lights just a few days away, markets are decked up with decorative lights is a sight to behold. LED products are a buzz this year, specially rings and foldable strips that give the semblance of a ring of rotating lights is one of the new products,” said Vinod, a shopkeeper. “ A light ball having rapid and colourful play of lights is another new product this season apart from the lit- up decorative flower vase with LED lit flowers on it,” he added.
Though sky- rocketing prices seem to have burnt a hole in people’s pockets, it has not dented the Diwali spirit and euphoria. The administration has also geared up for incoming burden of traffic, a traffic police officer said, we have deployed extra police jawans in dense areas like Freeganj, Satigate, Gopal Mandir, Patni Bazaar, Sarafa and other areas, these jawans will maintain traffic in these areas till Diwali. More than 20 congested lanes in such areas have been declared one way and only two wheelers will be allowed to pass during the festive season.
