Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has encouraged people of Kerala to celebrate the harvest festival of Onam by harvesting produce grown in their own households.
Kerala doesn't want to eat its veggies. It's not being difficult- the state's food safety officials say 80 per cent of its vegetables, which come from Tamil Nadu, are highly contaminated, with levels crossing the permissible limit by almost three to five times.
The startling allegations are made in a new report released by the government last month.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is encouraging Keralites to consume home-grown veggies for now.
Health Minister V.S. Shivakumar, told NDTV "The Chief Minister will be writing to the heads of various states on this issue. Also, a secretary level inter-state co-ordination meeting will be called for in the 1st week of July, focusing on a regional co-operation in southern regions, specifically on this issue."
55 year old Aklinga says she has no choice but to buy these vegetables, "What should we do? Where else can we buy from? The only thing we can hope is that our body gets adjusted to all this. We have to face these problems," she said.
One reason for such high levels is because harvested vegetables are dipped into pesticide concoctions to ensure they are not eaten away by pests during transport across states, in the report by the food safety department. This defies all guidelines, and shopkeepers complain of dwindling business.