The Bureau of Indian Standards on Thursday said that packaged drinking water should not be sold without its mark called ISI (Indian Standards Institute). The regulatory body stated that water packaged drinking units bearing ISI certification are under constant monitoring for compliance with standards.
Joint Director, BIS, M.A.J.Vinod said the packaged drinking units are not supposed to sell without ISI certification to their products.
Participating in a consumer awareness programme, the Joint- Director said, “Whenever any enterprise approaches us, we grant licence if they are found fit and able to pack and manufacture the product as per IS 14543 for packaging drinking water. That is the main scope of the BIS. Further monitoring and surveillance are also being done by us.”
Stating the BIS has no role to play against those who do not have ISI mark, he added only if somebody misuses ISI mark, the BIS will take action and will take them to court. The misuse of such mark will attract either fine upto Rs.50,000 or imprisonment up to six months.
With respect to quality of drinking water, Mr. Vinod added that it has been being constantly monitored and ‘market’ samples continuously taken. Every company was audited and performance ascertained. Based on satisfactory performances only, further renewal would be done for licence.
Online complaint Explaining about the new redressal mechanism introduced by the BIS, Mr. Vinod said, “Any complaint can be registered with Bureau of India Standards (BIS) through our website. There is link called ‘Online complaints’ through which any customer register the complaint. They need not come physically to our office and they can send their grievances to our website. It will be looked into. If the complaint is found genuine, the replacement of the product will be made.”
